Welsh Music for Strings Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & Owain Arwel Hughes

• Grace Williams (1906 - 1977): Elegy:
• 1 Williams: Elegy 06:41
• Arwel Hughes (1909 - 1988): Gweddi (A Prayer):
• 2 Hughes: Gweddi (A Prayer) 10:47
• Paul Mealor (b. 1975): O Sacred Heart:
• 3 Mealor: O Sacred Heart 08:42
• Morfydd Owen (1891 - 1918): Romance for Strings:
• 4 Owen: Romance for Strings 02:28
• Arwel Hughes: Divertimento (based on the tune 'Ebenezer'):
• 5 Hughes: Divertimento (based on the tune 'Ebenezer') 07:55
• Christopher Wood (b. 1945): Aberfan:
• 6 Wood: Aberfan 06:57
• William Mathias (1934 - 1992): Music for Strings, Op. 14:
• 7 Mathias: Music for Strings, Op. 14: I. Toccata 05:54
• 8 Mathias: Music for Strings, Op. 14: II. Canto 05:45
• 9 Mathias: Music for Strings, Op. 14: III. Danza 05:07
• Total Runtime 01:00:16

Info for Welsh Music for Strings

An album of firsts - all these works are receiving world premiere recordings, and this is the only album devoted to music for strings by Welsh composers. Most listeners will be familiar with works for strings by Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Tippett - they are some of the most famous works in the repertoire. The works on this album reveal that composers in Wales were also writing outstanding works for strings at the same time. Grace Williams was taught by Vaughan Williams, and her haunting Elegy leaves a deep impression on the listener. Morfydd Owen's brief Romance reflects her all to short life - tragically cut short in 1918 at just 26. Her trajectory as a composer was set high. William Matthias, one of the better known of Welsh composers, studied with Lennox Berkeley and was a child prodigy. Best known for his music for choir, he also wrote three symphonies and three piano concertos. His deft and polished Music for Strings displays his technical prowess to the full. Paul Mealor is one of the current generation of composers from Wales, studying with Mathias. His music was performed at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011, and Wherever You Are was the Christmas No.1 single in the UK in the same year. Arwel Hughes studied with Vaughan Williams and was a key player in the establishment of music at BBC Wales, becoming Head of Music in 1965. He composed in all fields, from oratorios, religious music, chamber and orchestral music - the latter often drawing on Welsh legends and history. Christopher Woods powerful Aberfan is a musical memorial to the harrowing tragedy that occurred on October 21, 1966 when a coal spoil tip engulfed a school killing 116 children and 28 adults in surrounding streets.

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Owain Arwel Hughes, conductor

Owain Arwel Hughes
is one of the busiest and most popular British conductors. He has enjoyed great success as assistant conductor of the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra, and works today with all the major British orchestras In 1995 he was appointed Principal Conductor of the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, but has continued to work as a guest conductor for European orchestras. In 1992 he made his debut in Japan with the Osaka Symphony Orchestra. Owain Arwel Hughes has wide experience of the symphonic repertoire and of British music in particular, and enjoys great recognition for his interpretations of the great works of choral literature. He has performed many times on TV and has made recordings, including two for EMI which brought him gold records. He has now concluded his series of recordings of all Vagn Holmboe's symphonies with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra. In 1986 he launched the Welsh Proms in Cardiff, where, as Artistic Director, he has created a very successful annual event.

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO)
As the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) approaches its seventy-fifth anniversary in 2021, its mission to enrich lives through orchestral experiences that are uncompromising in their excellence and inclusive in their appeal, places the RPO at the forefront of music-making in the UK. Performing approximately 200 concerts each season and with a worldwide audience of more than half-a-million people, the Orchestra embraces a broad repertoire that enables it to reach the most diverse audience of any British symphony orchestra. Whilst artistic integrity remains paramount, the RPO is unafraid to push boundaries and is equally at home recording video game, film and television soundtracks and working with pop stars, as it is performing the great symphonic repertoire.

The RPO collaborates with the most inspiring artists and looks forward to welcoming its new Music Director, Vasily Petrenko, in September 2021. Vasily Petrenko will join a roster of titled conductors that includes Pinchas Zukerman (Principal Guest Conductor), Alexander Shelley (Principal Associate Conductor) and Grzegorz Nowak (Permanent Associate Conductor).

Cadogan Hall in London has been the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s home since 2004. Here it performs an annual season of concerts, many of which are subsequently toured to its seven principal residency venues. In addition, the Orchestra promotes more than forty-five concerts each season at partnership venues across the country, several of which are in areas where access to live orchestral music is very limited. In London, the Orchestra also promotes a season of symphonic concerts at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall and a popular series at the iconic Royal Albert Hall, where it has recently been appointed as the Hall’s Associate Orchestra.

As a respected cultural ambassador, the RPO enjoys a busy schedule of international touring, performing in the world’s great concerts halls and at prestigious international festivals. This season’s touring highlights include visits to Belarus, Slovakia and a three-week tour of the USA.

The RPO is recognised as being the UK’s most in-demand orchestra, an accolade that would have pleased Sir Thomas Beecham, who founded the RPO in 1946. His mission was to lead a vital revival of UK orchestras after World War II and form an ensemble that comprised the finest musicians in the country. The Orchestra has since attracted a glittering list of principal conductors, including Rudolf Kempe, Antal Doráti, Walter Weller, André Previn, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yuri Temirkanov, Daniele Gatti and Charles Dutoit.

The RPO aims to place orchestral music at the heart of contemporary society, collaborating with creative partners to foster a deeper engagement with communities to ensure that live orchestral music is accessible to as inclusive and diverse an audience as possible. To achieve this, in 1993 the Orchestra launched RPO Resound, which has grown to become the most innovative and respected orchestral community and education programme in the UK and internationally. The programme delivers bespoke, pioneering education, community and talent development projects to a wide range of participant groups, including homeless people, children, young people and stroke survivors, always with the overarching objective to leave a lasting legacy.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has always been entrepreneurial and in 1986 it was the first UK orchestra to launch its own record label. The RPO has gone on to embrace advances in digital technology and now achieves nearly thirty million downloads of its recorded music each year. The Orchestra is increasingly active online (www.rpo.co.uk) and on social media (@rpoonline) providing audiences with the opportunity to engage with the RPO and enjoy ‘behind-the-scenes’ film clips and photographs.

Passion, versatility and uncompromising artistic standards are the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s hallmarks, and as it looks forward to an exciting future with its new Music Director, Vasily Petrenko, it will continue to be recognised as one of the world’s most open-minded, forward-thinking and accessible symphony orchestras.

Booklet for Welsh Music for Strings