I’ve been chosen as composer on many occasions over the years by Ensemble Cymru, an organisation that does more than any other, I believe, to raise the profile of chamber music in Wales, so I was delighted to be invited to compose a piece for their first National Tour.
Peryn Clement-Evans gave me the freedom to choose which combination of instruments I’d like to write for, from the 17 taking part in the concerts – and this was rather like putting a child in a toyshop and giving it a free unlimited choice, so I said I’d write for 16 of them. The other, by the way, was the piano, an instrument I’ve never been very good at writing for.
Anyhow, the combination that was left is a most unusual one – after all, these were the instruments needed, in various numbers, to perform the other pieces in the programme, so there were three horns but just one trumpet, two oboes but a single flute and so on. So I could justly claim that this is the only piece for these exact 16 instruments in existence! Peryn had a great idea regarding a theme for the work. He doesn’t insist, just suggest, but this was an inspired suggestion – basing the various movements on the venues of the different concerts, more particularly the fact that they are all near bodies of water of some kind – a river, the sea or whatever. It was a short and easy step from there to decide to base the movements on Welsh legends associated with those ‘living waters’, and you can read more in another part of this website about how I set about doing this.
After completing the composing work (and I have to admit to having suffered, for a time, that debilitating condition known as ‘composer’s block’, meaning that no ideas came to mind, but that eventually disappeared, thank goodness), and sending the music to the players, the next step was to be present at the first full rehearsal, to make sure there were no insuperable difficulties with the music, and to make any necessary suggestions as to tempo, interpretation and so on. This was to take place in the Amadeus Centre in London (there are images and a video of the rehearsal elsewhere on this website), and I was looking forward to a pleasurable, relaxed train journey, direct from Bangor to London.
Alas... on that exact day, 3 February 2012, a goods locomotive chose to derail in Bletchley, causing the worst snarl-up on the railway system for years – no passengers able to get to London via Milton Keynes, hundreds of thousands of travellers flocking to catch any train that could get them closer to their destination. I’ve now forgotten how many different trains I was put on, from stations that had never before been used on a journey to London – only that I was standing, packed in with hundreds of other unfortunates, in a Chilterns Line train for an hour and a half to Marylebone Station.
Goodness knows how I got to the rehearsal at all – but, as it turned out, they’d only just started on my piece, sight-reading it through, and already it sounded mightily good.
When writing the piece, I didn’t know how the ensemble would be placed on stage – after all, 16 instrumentalists is close to being a small orchestra, and there wouldn’t be room for all of them in a semicircle in the manner of, say, a sextet. But Ensemble Cymru had come up with an elegant solution – by having many of the players standing, meaning that all would be seen and heard effectively.
My biggest mistake in this regard was to write the other instruments’ cues in the trumpeter’s part – and he was placed standing at the back! – so the others wouldn’t have been able to see him ‘conducting’. I need to point out here that Ensemble Cymru has always operated without a conductor, which means that all the players have to know exactly what everybody else is doing, and base their performances on total co-operation – something that needs a great deal of experience and confidence.
The rehearsal went well – more or less the only discussions had to do with tempo, and agreement was reached quite quickly. The ensemble’s Artist in Association, the renowned cellist Paul Watkins, was present, and was complimentary about the piece, which was nice.
Before long now the ensemble will be meeting again o rehearse the piece once more and perform it in Newport. I intend to be there, and whatever the audience’s reaction to the work will be, I can confidently state that it wouldn’t be possible to find a more committed, talented – and friendly – group to perform the piece.
Thanks, Ensemble Cymru!
