tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49746001778857186832024-03-06T23:00:07.087+00:00THE ENDGAMERandom musings about music in general, composition in particular, my life, my work and what it is that drives me to compose.
This blog is not intended to cause offence to anyone; or to be a work of great literary merit. It is in part public discourse, part diary and part cathartic self dialogue. I hope that it may give some insight into what makes me who I am and will make my music more accessible.
Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-57063584549745279562020-07-11T15:49:00.004+01:002020-07-13T13:25:47.495+01:00Furnace of Colours – Symphony, Symphonic Song-cycle or simply 3 Orchestral Songs?<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">Furnace of Colours – Symphony, Symphonic Song-cycle or simply 3 Orchestral Songs?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">When I was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 in 2010, largely by the efforts of Jac van Steen, to write a work for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales the brief was to compose a work for soprano and large orchestra of 20 minutes in duration with its orchestration within that of Lutoslawski’s Third Symphony which was to form the second half of the concert.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">In May of that year, I completed work on my Third Symphony which was subtitled “Fire in the Snow” and which took its inspiration from Vernon Watkin’s eponymous poem. I have long been enthral to Watkins’s poetry having set his “Peace in the Welsh Hills” for soloists, chorus and chamber orchestra after being awarded the Afan Thomas Composer’s Prize in 1985. I find his poetry a source of calm, peace and solace and often turned to it during this tumultuous time in my life.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Christopher Painter">Christopher Painter</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter/pastorale" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Pastorale">Pastorale</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">The Third Symphony had been the expression of the long journey through grief, despair, depression, acceptance and, finally, closure (if only partial) following the deaths of Alun Hoddinott and my cousin Peter (within a month of each other) and the existential crisis that this and other life events had caused. It is dedicated to all those dear friends who pulled me through it despite the rather difficult person I had become. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Christopher Painter">Christopher Painter</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter/sets/symphony-no-3-fire-in-the" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Symphony No.3 - Fire in the Snow">Symphony No.3 - Fire in the Snow</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">Apart from my own father, Alun Hoddinott had been the most important man in my life; I had been privileged to have been close to him and to have gone from being a student to being his publisher and, much more importantly, his friend and confidante. One of my many treasured memories is of the day when he said that he would no longer comment on my work in progress as I had ceased to be his pupil and was now his friend and colleague. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">Having already written several works, many of them drawing on Watkin’s poetry for inspiration, as a way of dealing with the feelings of loss and hopelessness, I decided that this new work, to be dedicated to Alun Hoddinott and to his beloved BBC National Orchestra of Wales, was to be an end of this chapter and would be more of an expression of gratitude and joy at the life of this wonderful, shy, funny, kind and generous man who was described by Peter Pears as “a Father Christmas of a man”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">Moreover, having discovered, after his death, that Alun was a great fan of Watkins’s work and had known him when he (Alun) had been a boy in Swansea, I decided to set one of his poems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">I was extremely fortunate to be invited to meet Vernon’s widow, Gwen, at her house and we spent hours talking, looking through handwritten drafts of his poems and discussing the work I planned to write. I had already decided that I wanted to set “Music of Colours: Dragonfoil and the Furnace of Colours” and Gwen very graciously gave her blessing to this and to my shortening the title to “The Furnace of Colours” as a nod to Alun’s synaesthesia and also to the BBC orchestra being the furnace for much of Alun’s creativity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">As with all things that one invests all of one’s efforts and belief into, the work was painfully slow and constantly re-written (something I very rarely do as most works are written directly into the full score with little revision); there was also the irony of writing a work, capturing the heat and light of high Summer, in the middle of Winter and being sat in my workroom (often very, very late at night after a day’s work as the orchestral librarian at BBC NOW) with a duvet wrapped around me and my feet on a small radiator – very bohemian!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">I had decided from the outset to divide the three sections of the poem into different movements but the intention was always to take a symphonic approach with a unifying idea of atmosphere and development and recurrence of motives throughout the work. Indeed, my late friend, the composer Peter Reynolds (who wrote the programme note for the BBC) remarked after the premiere that one can only truly understand the work when the climax of the third movement is reached – this comment by my much admired and revered friend is enough to instantly discount the possibility of this work being three orchestral songs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">The</span><span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>idée fixe</i></span></span><span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;"> of the entire work is a theme that occurs in many of Alun’s works – a falling fourth, second and sixth followed by a rising fourth and second – which, I am told by Rhiannon Hoddinott, Alun used as her theme, to make her a part of the music. The last occurrence of this theme in “Furnace of Colours” is on an off-stage trumpet right at the end of the work (before the final viola solo – Alun was an accomplished viola player) and is, in my mind, Alun’s farewell to the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">During the composition process, it became increasingly obvious that it would be impossible to do justice to the poetry and to remain within the 20-minute time limit. After discussions with Jac van Steen, Radio 3 and the orchestras producer it was agreed that I could go up to 35 minutes – the maximum allowed for the concert before pushing the orchestra into overtime!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">This relaxation of the original brief allowed for greater expansiveness but resulted in a work, due to both its size of orchestration and duration, that is difficult to place in orchestral programmes as a first-half closer in the traditional solo/concerto spot. Also, as both the orchestral and vocal writing (the soprano soloist at the premiere was the remarkable Claire Booth) are demanding this has the feel of the focal point of a programme. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">I have given a great deal of thought to this in the 9 years since the work was premiered and oft-debated with myself as to what this work is – symphony or symphonic song-cycle? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">My reasons for initially not calling it a symphony were very simplistic – I had not long completed a symphony and feared that it would be seen as arrogant and a little bit precious to produce another so soon, I hoped that my third symphony would have its UK premiere (it’s still waiting) before the fourth appeared and. lastly and most importantly, it wasn’t what I had been commissioned to write.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">Can setting one poem, even when divided into three parts, be considered as a symphonic song-cycle? To me, it cannot – I always regard song-cycles as being a collection of poems that are assembled to create an overall mood or statement, their aggregation producing something larger than the sum of its parts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">Now that we are no longer in the era when the symphony had set structural conventions (if it ever did as it was/is a constantly evolving genre) then the use of the term must depend partly upon what the composer’s thoughts were when writing and the processes used to build the work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">As the work draws together several strands of emotion through its three movements to express one overall feeling and aims for cohesion by the development and re-use of ideas while attempting to take the listener on a journey, I would argue that this is, in fact, a symphony.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;">Before I rename it as “Symphony No.4 – Furnace of Colours” I would be extremely interested to hear supporting and counter-arguments – this is, to date, the most important piece that I have composed and, I feel, is my best work, and as such, I would like to give it its proper place in my catalogue.<br /><br />Also, although originally written for soprano, it could equally be sung by a high tenor so I may make it for "High Voice" rather than "Soprano"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "segoe ui semilight" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Christopher Painter">Christopher Painter</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter/sets/furnace-of-colours" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Furnace of Colours">Furnace of Colours</a></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vYO0gnERTQ" target="_blank">Score & audio (YouTube)</a>Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-51962842692142765072019-10-10T12:42:00.002+01:002020-08-19T23:25:41.523+01:00The Sertraline Kid Hangs Up His Spurs<span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">It is frightening to think that I wrote my original piece about the Sertraline Kid in 2013 [Creativity and the Sertraline Kid] and even more so to realise that most of it was nonsense, written not to inform the reader but in an effort to convince myself.</span><br />
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<span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In fact, the Sertraline Kid was constantly falling off his horse and wandering around the musical prairies in a constant daze. It was only when he hung up his guns and left the mind-numbed West of mental stultification that any sort of normality of thought returned.</span><br />
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<span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Sertraline is a powerful and useful drug and in certain situations is very effective. As anyone who reads my rantings will know, I have suffered from depression, my Black Dog, for decades and when I finally sought help and was put on Sertraline, I was scoring very highly on the standard test for clinical depression and anxiety and, to be frank, was in a hell of a state.</span><br />
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<span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Things had deteriorated to the point where some days I would ring in sick to work simply because I couldn't face getting out of bed or had made it to the front door but couldn't bring myself to open it.</span><br />
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<span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I won't dwell on this as it will make a lot of bitterness resurface but this was made ten times worse by some of my managers who, through various means, put me under increasing pressure and who at one point told me to pull myself together as my illness was putting an unfair strain on my work colleagues.</span><br />
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<span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I had naively thought that being completely open about my illnesses (also asthma, diabetes and sleep apnoea - there is a theory that all these illnesses are linked to depression but no one knows which is chicken and which is egg) would be helpful but, sadly, I think I was looked upon as the weak link and I unknowingly provided them with all the right buttons to press. Without the Sertraline I would have completely broken down and the Black Dog would have won.</span><br />
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<span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Taking Sertraline allowed me to function on a low level where I could leave the house, go to work, talk to people, cope with the increasing stress and put on my "happy face". The cost was a complete descent into blac</span><span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">kness and hours sat on my own, staring into space, when I came home. All I can say is thank God for my best friend in the orchestra who spent hours talking to me on Facebook and sometimes ringing me up when he realised things were really bad - when he decided to leave I knew it would be a battle for me to carry on (I only lasted just over 12 months).</span><br />
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<span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Contrary to my optimistic and self-encouraging blog post, Sertraline can have some nasty side-effects too. Creative thought was virtually non-existent - the brain fog becomes dense and while it doesn't stop the urge to compose, it cruelly stops the thought processes that enable it to happen. Also, in levelling out the highs and lows, it makes life very bland - while things don't seem to be so black, they also never seem to be bathed in sunlight either. Most worrying, were fairly oft thoughts of "it would be better if I wasn't here" or "I'd be so much happier if I didn't wake up". I've very occasionally had these thoughts pre and post Sertraline but, fortunately for me, my character would NEVER let me act upon them but for some people, Sertraline and other SSRIs can amplify and increase these thoughts.</span><br />
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<span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">So, in late 2016, a few months after finishing work, I made the decision to come off the medication. I stupidly did this "cold turkey" without telling my GP and it was hard - I didn't ween myself off, I simply stopped, a very stupid thing to do. That said, after about six weeks, I started to feel better and my mind started to clear. That, coupled with the relief of having left my job (which blotted out any worries about how the hell I was going to pay the bills), spurred me on. (also, when I did have a wobble and wanted to go back onto the medication, my GP refused because I had gone without it for 2 months).</span><br />
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<span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I have become resigned to the fact that I will always have the Black Dog with me but am learning to live with it. I am also finally accepting that not everyone will like me and for those that don't that's their problem and not mine - I am who I am and I'm not going to change that just to fit in. I will never be corporate man, can't abide bullshit and liars, and, above all, have to speak my mind and stick to what I believe in - if that makes me unpopular then so be it.</span><br />
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<span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I bitterly regret all those years when anxiety prevented me from doing things that I wanted to and from seizing opportunities. In my youth, all the girls I would have loved to ask out but the absolute fear of crushing rejection prevented me (or making very clumsy attempts to do so and coming across as creepy or pathetic), turning down lectureships in the USA and Germany because the thought of starting a new life so far away terrified me, pulling out of job interviews at the very last minute because I was being physically sick outside the building, losing friends because I constantly declined offers to meet up, go to parties or have dinner (usually as I was petrified that there would be people there that I didn't know) and ending up in an interesting but dead-end job and being told I would never get out of it.</span><br />
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<span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I still have pretty black days (the last 12 months have not been a picnic by any means) and am anxious, annoyed, frustrated, lonely and bitter but who isn't to some degree. The biggest lesson I take from all this, and wholeheartedly pass on, is, no matter what, KEEP ON KEEPING ON - we are all valuable human beings, we just need to find a way to see it.</span>Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-7501406801196709462019-08-06T02:38:00.000+01:002019-08-06T02:39:38.262+01:00Light from Shade - Transcript of an interview (from 1998) with AJ Heward Rees for "Welsh Music"<div class="WordSection1">
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<strong><i><span style="font-size: 36.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Light from Shade<o:p></o:p></span></i></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">THE COMPOSER CHRISTOPHER PAINTER TALKS TO A. J. HEWARD REES <o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<em><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">AJHR: <span style="background-color: white;">How did it all start for you? </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">CP: I was born in Port Talbot in 1962 and was
encouraged from an early age to take an interest in the arts. My
great-grandfather, Thomas Owen David was a member of the Gorsedd (known as
Owain ap Japheth) who wrote poetry in both English and Welsh as well as
composing music although, sadly, all his music was lost to war salvage. Much of
his poetry still survives, indeed his poem in honour of Nurse Edith Cavell is
displayed in St Martin's-in-the-Field, London. My mother, Caroline Painter, was
a writer and journalist who worked for the local and national press for many
years. It was in this atmosphere that I was encouraged to express myself, although
my first artistic efforts were directed towards writing and for a time it
seemed as if poetry would be my metier. Indeed, I still have books of poems
from my early teens although I would never let anyone see them now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Were you wholly immersed in the arts or did you take
part in other childhood activities? <o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I had all the usual childhood pursuits such as
fishing, model railways, stamp collecting etc. I was also very interested in
sport and spent as much time as I could playing cricket, rugby and soccer. As
well as the arts, there is a strong sporting tradition within my family. My
maternal grandfather, Ivor Owen David, was a well-known rugby player who played
for Aberavon, whilst my paternal grandfather, Henry Painter, and my father,
Ronald Painter were both acclaimed footballers who played for and trained
football teams in Caerau, near Maesteg. I was always more enthusiastic than skilful
and because of my height (I was always taller than my contemporaries) was
always the first to be taken out of the game by the opposition. I think I spent
more time watching from the side-lines than actually playing. Despite this, and
in common with most Welshmen, part of me would gladly exchange any success that
I have had for the opportunity to pull on the red jersey and play just once for
my country. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So what drew you to music?<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">A purely fortuitous set of circumstances as it
happens. A close friend of my mother, whom I looked on as an aunt, gave me her
old piano. I was keen to learn to play it but was unable to find a teacher - to
this day I can hardly play a note - but the presence of the piano in the house
stimulated an interest in me. This interest crystallised when I went to Dyffryn
Comprehensive School and started to learn the trumpet. I always intended to
follow an engineering career, after flirting with thoughts of becoming a
barrister, and to keep music as a hobby, but shortly before going to university
I attended a music course run by the composer Edward Gregson (now principal of
the Royal Northern College in Manchester) and decided at this time that I could
not keep music as second best. I felt, and still feel, passionate about music
and wanted to spend all my time working in it. I returned to school rather than
going to college (I had a place at Swansea University to study Engineering),
passed my A level music and, luckily for me, was accepted for entry to University
College, Cardiff.</span></div>
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<em><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Were you supported in this decision or did everyone
think you were mad?<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I have been very lucky to have been able to pursue a
career in composition. My parents were extremely supportive and took me all
over the country when I was younger so that I could take part in masterclasses
and workshops and were similarly supportive when I decided to follow music as a
career rather than my original choice of civil engineering. Sadly, my mother
passed away in 1992 but my father continues to be a staunch supporter and I can
never repay him for his enormous contribution to my work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I was also very fortunate to have the encouragement
of my music teacher at Dyffryn Comprehensive, Mr Walter White (who also conducted the Ystradgynlais Town Band), someone to whom
I also owe an unrepayable debt. He broadened my horizons and supported me in my
decision to change from science to the arts and is largely responsible for my
going to Cardiff to study composition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Engineering? - this ties up, doesn't it, with your
later interest in serialism?<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Yes, I suppose it does. I have always been
fascinated by construction, by the very nuts and bolts of creation. It was a
joke in our family for many years that it was deadly to leave anything lying
around when I was in the house as it would be dismantled and never quite
re-assembled correctly. In many ways, I see composition as similar to engineering. One
starts with the basic materials and, hopefully, builds them into a strong,
coherent, attractive whole. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I have a passion for puzzles and in some ways see
composition in this light - a means of taking seemingly unrelated strands and
weaving them together to form a structured, homogenous unit. It is extremely
important for me to get the structure and the compositional processes right. It
is not really necessary for the listener to see these: he or she must judge the
music as simply that, music; but I like to know that the internal fabric is
sound rather like an engineer must know that the foundations and supporting
walls are sound. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Although I don't use it now, I was drawn to strict
serialism by a search for coherence and a desire for every note to have its own
importance within the structure. I had been moving towards serialism over
several years with the use of structured cells and motifs. One can see this
beginning to happen in the first symphony and become more established in the
second. It was with the <b>Sonata for Two Violins</b> and the <b>Elegy for Two
Violins</b> that I completely embraced strict serialism. It didn't take long
for me to rebel against the constraints which this imposed upon me and over the
next few years, I evolved my own system of 'free serialism' by the use of
fragmented rows which were then subject to inversion and retrograde and finally
to row rotation. This process gave a large set of interrelated 'note groups'
which could be used to generate motivic ideas whilst leaving me free to set up
my own tonal arguments to produce a hybrid of horizontal serialism and vertical
tonality. This technique reached its zenith in <b>Tapestries </b>which is totally
integrated with every note leading logically from the previous one and on to
the next. The title comes from the fact that long chains of notes are
interwoven to form the fabric of the work. In fact, it worked so well in <b>Tapestries</b>
that I have never been able to use the technique on this scale again. I have
since returned to freer processes of composition, although I keep some serial
techniques within my armoury. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I gather that you were curiously drawn to
Shostakovich's music when very young indeed. What were the other influences on
you?<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Yes. Whilst my mother was pregnant with me, she
borrowed records of Shostakovich's symphonies and quartets from the local
library and listened to them repeatedly. I am told that when I was a baby, one
of the only things that would settle me in my cradle was to be played a
Shostakovich symphony or quartet - it seems that I must have absorbed them by
some sort of osmosis whilst in my mother's womb. I have a great feeling and
respect for Shostakovich and believe him to be the greatest symphonist of the
twentieth century (in a close race with Rachmaninov and Sibelius). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I find myself influenced more by individual works
rather than by composers but if pressed I would say that the music of Berg,
Britten, Gerhard, Henze, Lutoslawski and Tippett have had direct and indirect
influences on me. Whether these influences are apparent in my music remains to
be seen but they have certainly affected the process by which I write my music.
Of course, the strongest influence on me and my music has been Alun Hoddinott
whom I regard respectfully as my 'musical father'.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">You always were, indeed still are, a brass
enthusiast, of course? <o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Yes, most certainly. I am a great fan of brass music
and had I been a better player (and had not suffered an ear injury which was
caused by the internal pressure generated when playing, resulting in the total
loss of hearing in my left ear) I would have hoped to have been a professional
player. I played for many years with the BSC (Port Talbot) Band and it was for
them that I wrote my very first, ungainly, compositions. I believe the brass
band to be a greatly under-rated ensemble and they are much more open to performing
new music than most other ensembles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Are there, or
have there been, any extra-musical influences on your work?</span></i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I have always been very sceptical of those creative
artists who claim inspiration as their <i>raison d'etre</i>. I have always
looked upon composition as a craft, putting together and shaping notes in the
same way as a carpenter cuts and shapes wood to make furniture. However, I find
that as I get a little bit older this scepticism is passing off together with
the healthy arrogance of youth. I'm coming to realise more and more just how
much I am affected by my surroundings and natural phenomena. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I am increasingly drawn to large bodies of water and
am fascinated by the open sea in all its moods. My recent orchestral work <b>Towards
the Light</b> was inspired by a storm on the south coast and the different ways
that the sunlight played on the raging seas. I also love the way the sunlight
shines through the clouds especially when the sun seems to look down through a
hole in the cloud and one can see the rays coming to earth. It is almost as if
God is looking directly down on us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I find that there is an increasing spiritual
dimension to my work which is not necessarily fixed to any one religion but to
the feeling that there is someone or something greater than us who has created
everything and watches over us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">My wife and I live in the centre of Cardiff and have
a small garden which we have worked very hard to convert from a bare patch of
earth into a pleasant garden and I find it a very good place to sit and recharge
my batteries. Also, when I am working, I sit facing French windows which open
out on to the garden and I find the myriad colours and fragrances very
stimulating.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Also, we have two black Labradors (and three cats
and a rabbit!) who are marvellous and take my mind off my work. I walk them at
least three times a day and it must be said that there is nothing like throwing
a ball for a dog to help regain one's perspective on life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">What happened after you left school? <o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">After leaving I was very fortunate to obtain a place
to study music at University College Cardiff. My music teacher had recommended
Cardiff to me because Alun Hoddinott was there, and I turned down a place in
one of the London colleges to go there. I owe a great deal to Alun Hoddinott;
he has been a constant source of advice and strength. I admired his music
before I came to college and never dreamed that I would be fortunate enough to
study with him. He has taught me a tremendous amount and I will be forever in
his debt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Since coming to Cardiff l have been fortunate to
receive several awards and commissions. I have been commissioned to write for
several major music festivals including the <i>Cardiff Festival </i>(1985 and
1986); <i>North Wales Music Festival (</i>1987); and the <i>Lower Machen
Festival</i> (1996). I have also received several awards for my composition
work, including the <i>Afan Thomas Memorial Award</i>; <i>Royal National
Eisteddfod Composition Prize</i> (Newport 1988); and was featured as part of
the Welsh Arts Council's <i>Young Composers Forum</i> in 1987.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In 1997, I was the joint winner (with Luke Goss,
also of Cardiff) of the prestigious <i>Gregynog Composers' Award of Wales</i>
(the first Welshman to win the award in its ten-year history) and my winning
work, <b>Sonata for Harp</b> (inspired by Lake Vyrnwy in Powys) was premiered
at the <i>Gregynog Festival</i> by Elinor Bennett.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Ever since I heard your Tapestries for clarinet,
violin and piano played at the Young Composers' Forum at St. Asaph in 1987, I
have felt that there is essentially a kind of broad expansiveness of idiom wholly
native to your music, even if written for small forces. Is this a fair remark? <o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I have never really thought about it before. I
certainly do not believe in constraining the musical ideas merely because small
forces are involved. I feel a natural affinity to orchestral writing and love
having the big canvas to work with (not that many opportunities arise for this)
and bring this approach to smaller, essentially chamber, works. I would like,
and strive to achieve, the balance of the broad-brush strokes of the large
canvas coupled with the meticulous detail of the watercolour within my music. I
admire the orchestral music of Mahler for the way in which he can make the
orchestra sound like a chamber ensemble (even if each symphony is rather like
going to a fantastic restaurant and eating everything on the menu) and also, as
I have already mentioned, the string quartets of Shostakovich for their
impression of total control of material whilst hiding a larger composition in
the background - the quartets of Bartok hold a similar feeling for me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Having to earn your living, naturally enough, but specifically
by computer originating other people's music (even that of Lord Lloyd Webber),
do you find this frustrating, or more particularly detrimental to your own
output in any way? <o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It certainly can be very frustrating to be preparing
other people's music, but one has to compartmentalise the different areas of
one's work in order to complete it successfully. It is all too easy to fall
into the "Why is this being done and not mine?" trap and to become
very bitter. Also, some of the music which I prepare is in a completely
different idiom to mine and thus it is easy to detach myself from. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Furthermore, the sheer technicality of producing the
finished music tends to remove one from the musical side of it. When I was
preparing the scores of <i>Phantom of the Opera</i>, <i>Cats</i> and <i>Sunset
Boulevard </i>there simply wasn’t any time to be frustrated. I recently
completed editing the new score of <i>Jesus Christ Superstar</i> and managed to
write three works of my own in my spare time whilst doing it. I would be lying
if I were to say that I prefer copying other people's music rather than writing
my own, but unless and until I am able to earn a living from writing then I
shall have to continue preparing other people's music. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">How do you now see the future ahead, from your
present standpoint as a struggling young Welsh composer?<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I try to be positive although it is not always easy.
I have gone through a barren period of over ten years when no-one wanted to
perform my music and consequently, I couldn't write anything (I started many
pieces but lacked the will to finish them). Things are improving now with
several performances coming up and more interest in my music, but I know just
how difficult the future may be. I have four major commissions in the next
twelve months, and I am looking forward to them immensely. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">How do you feel generally about the future of
contemporary music in Wales? <o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">There is a perceived crisis in classical music
which, I believe, is more imagined than real. Our concert promoters seem to
have been seized by the Classic FM mentality and are scared to present
audiences with anything new or challenging. I find this attitude very
patronising, I'm sure that concertgoers are much more discerning and
intelligent than programme planners give them credit for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The marketing of contemporary music needs to be
completely re-thought. Contemporary music is presented in an apologetic way -
'let's get this over with and get on to the Mozart!' - instead of being
projected as vibrant and exciting. Who would reject the opportunity of
attending the first performance of Mozart's <b>Requiem</b> or Rachmaninov's <b>Second
Symphony</b>? Yet these were startling works in their day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We appear to suffer from an inferiority complex and
don't value home-grown talent. It seems that many of our performing bodies are
happy to call themselves Welsh but that is as far as their Welshness goes. When
they do commission or perform new music they choose works by non-Welsh composers;
no other country does this. I have found that the response from overseas tends
to be "If your performers won't perform your music then why should we,
we've got our own composers to look after". <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Examples of this approach are the Contemporary Music
Centre in Eire and the Iceland Music Information Centre. Irish composers have
their works performed by the RTE orchestra on a regular basis whilst the
Icelandic composers are in an even stronger position. The Iceland Music Information
Centre administers the funding for the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and a
condition of their funding is that they must perform a certain number of
Icelandic works per year. Contrary to the cliched argument that this produces
mediocrity it has produced a varied and energetic group of composers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I fear for the future of new music in Wales where
financial considerations over-rule artistic ones. I understand that audience
figures are important, but we appear to have accepted defeat. We should have
more confidence in our own ability and take our music out of Wales to the rest
of the world. When, for instance, was the last time our national opera company
performed a Welsh opera let alone commissioned one by a Welsh composer with a
libretto in Welsh? Furthermore, how about the National Eisteddfod, our
celebration of Welsh culture, performing or commissioning a Welsh choral work
rather than bludgeoning existing works by non-Welsh composers into Welsh?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">If Welsh performing bodies don't support Welsh composers,
then no-one else will. With the disgraceful closure of the Welsh Music
Information Centre, Welsh composers are even more isolated than ever, and it is
an indictment of the attitude towards Welsh music that it has been allowed to
remain closed for so long. Again, one only has to look at overseas information
centres to see what a properly funded centre can achieve. I am not advocating
unrestricted handouts but an investment in the future of contemporary music in
Wales which can go forth and represent the soul of our nation to the rest of
the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Transcript of
an interview from Welsh Music magazine</span></i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-22436634599416106372018-08-09T03:08:00.001+01:002020-07-13T14:01:39.748+01:00Welsh Orchestral Music Playlist<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>WELSH ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYLIST</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkUNk5GLzxfPEDL-UthbOK9EE2UUQ8wi6HMAvS7bjfcFj5GDrMOgqT2zsZHfYffxnlQkC6bztBF-3bRST6Nho81udgg05iH1HoHIdf7OeGPcW90KPsH1_e5gDIjJwdwnlJI_C02pupg4Ik/s1600/BBC+NOW+Hodd+Hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="615" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkUNk5GLzxfPEDL-UthbOK9EE2UUQ8wi6HMAvS7bjfcFj5GDrMOgqT2zsZHfYffxnlQkC6bztBF-3bRST6Nho81udgg05iH1HoHIdf7OeGPcW90KPsH1_e5gDIjJwdwnlJI_C02pupg4Ik/s400/BBC+NOW+Hodd+Hall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A non-exclusive playlist compiled from free online sources. There are many more composers and works which are unrecorded (I have excluded computer realisations from this list) - if I have omitted anyone, please accept my apologies and message me with links to recordings.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Web links:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.composersofwales.org/" target="_blank">Composers of Wales</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.curiad.co.uk/index.php" target="_blank">Curiad</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.gwynn.co.uk/" target="_blank">Cwmni Gwynn</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/" target="_blank">Oriana Publications</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.sainwales.com/" target="_blank">SAIN</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/" target="_blank">Ty Cerdd</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://welshmusicguild.wales/en/" target="_blank">Welsh Music Guild</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>ALUN HODDINOTT [1929 – 2008]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/alun-hoddinott">https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/alun-hoddinott</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/alun-hoddinott">https://www.tycerdd.org/alun-hoddinott</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVZ3hOu09ks" target="_blank">Badger in the Bag</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8tSW1Mmgx8&t=25s" target="_blank">Clarinet Concerto No.2</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8AErzRux-8" target="_blank">Concerto for Orchestra</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMT2q78a1dQ" target="_blank">Concerto Grosso No.1</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqgGeY2VYBI" target="_blank">Concerto Grosso No.2</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6whBLv4OFU" target="_blank">Doubles</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUtiWZLaXS0" target="_blank">Dragonfire</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0PCEmL60rPtjlM9HDfmAip" target="_blank">Euphonium Concerto (1)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/2Hfs9KWuQS7iABWdhzl4ew" target="_blank">Euphonium Concerto (2)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/35zyyX79g1oZnxXWDhEzGj" target="_blank">Euphonium Concerto (3)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/3u2dyaz2oJLg5oQ9HHOAFR" target="_blank">Euphonium Concerto (4)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ncTOQopoVs" target="_blank">Fioriture</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A--QSwlq-94" target="_blank">Four Welsh Dances</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlGZxKfqLPI" target="_blank">Harp Concerto </a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGuSfsTajns" target="_blank">Horn Concerto </a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6fxuEXTj-4" target="_blank">Investiture Dances </a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylmW_Twdp5o&t=6s" target="_blank">La Serenissima, Images of Venice</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yDfNFgInP8" target="_blank">Landscapes</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6734hUTwFF0" target="_blank">Lanterne des Morts</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR6cPRGe5wE&t=1002s" target="_blank">Lizard, Concerto for Orchestra</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYX0q2spEZE" target="_blank">Music from <i>Sword of Sherwood Forest</i></a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNq_hsI9zlc" target="_blank">Noctis Equi</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3GNCMQcqlo" target="_blank">Nocturnes and Cadenzas</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb_oKv-y9WY" target="_blank">Organ Concerto </a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpI3_a6EzRE" target="_blank">Overture – Jack Straw </a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af2lY-G8Nok" target="_blank">Quodlibet on Welsh Nursery Tunes</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBrfO2Oe8Gw" target="_blank">Scena for Strings </a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qyq1flOLsU" target="_blank">Scenes from The Trumpet Major</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rdl8J5a7XQ" target="_blank">Sinfonietta No.2</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEFhU0zt2H4" target="_blank">Star Children</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqdqwslUKQ8" target="_blank">Symphony No.2 </a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2ia_F1xkuk" target="_blank">Symphony No.3 </a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgyRH1kGfe0&t=9s" target="_blank">Symphony No.4</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIS0Q63LhxU&t=85s" target="_blank">Symphony No.5</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD9VBjGBPtM&t=33s" target="_blank">Symphony No.6</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_qi2A0T-3I&t=22s" target="_blank">Symphony No.7</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFcWbvFfn20" target="_blank">Symphony No.8</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix4nRjiQios&t=23s" target="_blank">Symphony No.9</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgC2iHRIO6U&t=119s" target="_blank">Symphony No.10</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ25kdapfTE" target="_blank">Taliesin</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUXgghAuaes" target="_blank">The Heaventree of Stars</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_fV55GI3ik" target="_blank">The Sun, the Great Luminary of the Universe</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suVhXQyG4gs" target="_blank">Variation on “Braint”</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooy9HjDpHOc" target="_blank">Viola Concertino</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VnxUHnMV00" target="_blank">Welsh Dances Suite No.1</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rlmXXfaLsM" target="_blank">Welsh Dances Suite No.2</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>ARWEL HUGHES [1909 – 1988]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.arwelhughes.com/">www.arwelhughes.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/arwel-hughes">https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/arwel-hughes</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/5TbMVPE0wUOSu4i4ZvaRrn" target="_blank">Anatiomaros</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/79CduOSjb53UkeUSMrLQPX" target="_blank">Fantasia in A minor</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0DA2Fwxgkm9qOlVoaiYqUl" target="_blank">Legend: Owain Glyndwr </a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4Lfyu3JgQVIiyoNPAaoP26" target="_blank">Overture: Serch yw’r Doctor</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/1wWVKcocUiKuLUIBR2bjdv" target="_blank">Prelude to the opera <i>Menna</i></a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/6iNkRsJJJin0XEeCOxu4WS" target="_blank">Prelude </a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/3EgsEZwGGtQvxWRYujhtuq" target="_blank">Suite (1)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/2FAsF8FxYc7Sd4wXdSbDWU" target="_blank">Suite (2) (<i>Cambrian Serenade</i>)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/5HPSiox0Uom1JBcGrLjqmJ" target="_blank">Suite (3)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>BEN LUNN [b.1990]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/ben-lunn"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/ben-lunn</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://benlunncomposer.tumblr.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://benlunncomposer.tumblr.com/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/benlunnmusic/abiding-in-fire" target="_blank">Abiding in Fire </a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/benlunnmusic/abiding-in-sound-2016" target="_blank">Abiding in Sound</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/benlunnmusic/accordion-concerto-mandala" target="_blank">Accordion Concerto ‘Mandala’</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/benlunnmusic/a-letter-to-a-dying-man" target="_blank">A Letter to a Dying Man</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/benlunnmusic/sangye-2015" target="_blank">Sangye</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/benlunnmusic/solvognen-2013" target="_blank">Solvognen</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/benlunnmusic/sets/symphony-no-3-a3-201415" target="_blank">Symphony No.3</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>BRIAN NOYES [b.1949]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/brian-e-noyes"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/brian-e-noyes</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.briannoyes.co.uk/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.briannoyes.co.uk/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/rianoyes/points-of-decision" target="_blank">Points of Decision</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/rianoyes/shadows-of-memory" target="_blank">Shadows of Memory</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>CEIRI TORJUSSEN [b.1976]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/ceiri-torjussen"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/ceiri-torjussen</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://ceiri.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://ceiri.com/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/ceiri-torjussen/ct-mc-blodeuwedd-extract" target="_blank">Blodeuwedd (extract)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/ceiri-torjussen/momentum-for-symphony" target="_blank">Momentum</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>CHARLIE BARBER [b.1949]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/charlie-barber"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/charlie-barber</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.charliebarber.co.uk/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.charliebarber.co.uk/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/charlie-barber/michelangelo-sketches-110215-workshop-performance" target="_blank">Michelangelo Sketches</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/charlie-barber/shut-up-and-dance-bbc-now-2017" target="_blank">Shut Up and Dance</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>CHRISTIAN MORRIS [b.1974]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/christian-morris"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/christian-morris</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://christianmorris.net/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://christianmorris.net/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/christian-morris/lyra-davidica" target="_blank">Lyra Davidica</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">CHRISTOPHER PAINTER [b. 1962]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.christopherpainter.co.uk/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.christopherpainter.co.uk</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/christopher-painter"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/christopher-painter</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter/bugles-sang-1" target="_blank">Bugles Sang</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter/buried-light" target="_blank">Buried Light</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter/cardiff-festival-overture" target="_blank">Cardiff Festival Overture</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter/forest-of-dreams" target="_blank">Forest of Dreams</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2Hi3SooqR8&t=13s" target="_blank">Furnace o</a></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2Hi3SooqR8&t=13s" target="_blank">f Colours</a> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltA7pzezPjg&t=995s" target="_blank">Invisible Cities</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter/spirit-dances" target="_blank">Spirit Dances </a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter/sets/symphony-no-3-fire-in-the-snow" target="_blank">Symphony No.3</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter/the-brightness-of-snow" target="_blank">…the brightness of snow</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter/vanishing" target="_blank">Vanishing Light</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>DANIEL JONES [1912 – 1993]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/daniel-jones"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/daniel-jones</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXj5-Jb3F8I" target="_blank">Capriccio for flute, harp and strings</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlBXtU28XEw" target="_blank">Cello Concerto</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQBKf5G3NCw" target="_blank">Dobri Novi (Suite on Czech Themes)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RmuA-JOo1U" target="_blank">Overture: Ieunctid</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp8Lf5SXvQo" target="_blank">Overture: Orpheus and Bacchus</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APOZjb6DbJ0" target="_blank">Salute to Dylan Thomas</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW894VrnSpY" target="_blank">Sinfonietta No.1</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/7f1xJgwXbcw2I8eNMssums?si=D0RThJY2RmeMzCp0hvcx7w" target="_blank">Symphony No.1</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adWu8TznIdc" target="_blank">Symphony No.2</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNupG8luC9U" target="_blank">Symphony No.3</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeZUHT5sir0&t=1s" target="_blank">Symphony No.4</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xIDeIKh9Lw" target="_blank">Symphony No.5</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2QXaavByK0" target="_blank">Symphony No.8</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34lpBlY9rbM" target="_blank">Symphony No.9</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFAHpt4V_gA" target="_blank">Symphony No.10</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1gHX8AqoPE" target="_blank">Symphony No.11</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOsyiSL5HUY" target="_blank">Symphony No.12</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnIsLyGDSN4" target="_blank">Symphony No.13</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38DDPVQAvrw" target="_blank">The Cloud Messenger</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qb3Ys_MgY8" target="_blank">Variation on </a><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qb3Ys_MgY8" target="_blank">Braint</a> </i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3AuOPXlcDo" target="_blank">Violin Concerto</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>DAVID WYNNE [1900 -1983]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/david-wynne"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/david-wynne</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JHrbGzg2s0" target="_blank">Symphony No.3</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>ELOISE GYNN [b.1985]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/eloise-gynn"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/eloise-gynn</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://eloisegynn.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://eloisegynn.com/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/3g5LR6KUtqHYe1aioY8ye3" target="_blank">Sakura </a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<o:p><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>GARETH GLYN [b.1951] </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-indent: 36pt;"><a href="http://garethglyn.info/eng/hafan.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;">http://garethglyn.info/eng/hafan.html</a></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/gareth-glyn" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/gareth-glyn</span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPdVCL81KTg" target="_blank">Gwyl Mabsant</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/garethglyn/in-memoriam-cruciatorum-infantum-cerddorfaorchestra" target="_blank">In Memoriam Cruciatorum Infantum</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/garethglyn/gododdin-gareth-glyn-cathl-symffonigtone-poem" target="_blank">Gododdin</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/garethglyn/gareth-glyn-legend-of-the-lake" target="_blank">Legend of the Lake</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/garethglyn/gareth-glyn-a-snowdon-overture" target="_blank">A Snowdon Overture</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/garethglyn/01-symffoni-symudiad-1" target="_blank">Symphony</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/garethglyn/sets/anglesey-seascapes" target="_blank">Anglesey Seascapes</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/garethglyn/sets/trumpet-concerto-gareth-glyn" target="_blank">Trumpet Concerto </a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>GARETH OLUBUNMI HUGHES [b.1985]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/gareth-hughes"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/gareth-hughes</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://learn.cf.ac.uk/webstudent/sem6gh1/htmlcss/assignment/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://learn.cf.ac.uk/webstudent/sem6gh1/htmlcss/assignment/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">h<a href="https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/gareth-olubunmi-hughes">ttps://www.orianapublications.co.uk/gareth-olubunmi-hughes</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/garetholubunmihughes/human-visions-2-civilisation-for-symphony-orchestra" target="_blank">Human Visions #2 – Civilisations</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>GARETH WALTERS [1928 – 2012]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://garethwaltersmusic.com/">http://garethwaltersmusic.com/</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gareth_Walters" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gareth_Walters</span></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/6Ec66JcAd8LoT5AG9ji1hV" target="_blank">Divertimento for Strings (1)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4tBQCRMgpbbrXTDJ9k6zHj" target="_blank">Divertimento for Strings (2)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/3hBeUMGrmHFOEmlPSH19vW" target="_blank">Divertimento for Strings (3)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4oJroTac3wv2ZrKCnQbjaa" target="_blank">Divertimento for Strings (4)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0tZyuxcz5W3cUPW3Dl6MQW" target="_blank">Divertimento for Strings (5)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>GARETH WOOD [b.1950]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/gareth-wood">https://www.tycerdd.org/gareth-wood</a></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://www.warwickmusic.com/Main-Catalogue/Composers/U---Z/Gareth-Wood" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.warwickmusic.com/Main-Catalogue/Composers/U---Z/Gareth-Wood</span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NONLHV-5OPc" target="_blank">Concerto for Tuba</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<o:p><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>GRACE WILLIAMS [1906 – 1977]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/grace-williams"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/grace-williams</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/grace-williams"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/grace-williams</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://britishmusiccollection.org.uk/composer/grace-williams"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://britishmusiccollection.org.uk/composer/grace-williams</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://gracewilliamscompo.wixsite.com/officialwebsite">http://gracewilliamscompo.wixsite.com/officialwebsite</a> (A VERY unofficial website)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2M_ZF4Tt70" target="_blank">Ballads</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_a75bZKLc8" target="_blank">Carillons</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHyg5IH5i_w" target="_blank">Elegy</a> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koLGFsnkNW4" target="_blank">Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes</a> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIU2vT0tJ5Y" target="_blank">Penillion</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-jYDF8xo74" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;" target="_blank">Rhiannon</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/2Gtw0h8REeUW8MXgbDuJLo" target="_blank">Sea Sketches (1 – High Wind)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/63DP50F3e1dgUorQ5rxOek" target="_blank">Sea Sketches (2 – Sailing Song)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/6RtS4d1fFrgLjkqXIGddXK" target="_blank">Sea Sketches (3 – Channel Sirens)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/7vga7UmAa3d76RSq2TdaHP" target="_blank">Sea Sketches (4 – Breakers)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4mAUrvTqgVlth3dopUApJP" target="_blank">Sea Sketches (5 – Calm Sea in Summer</a>) </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hUF16HahX8" target="_blank">Sinfonia Concertante</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7UIjHmsZ0g" target="_blank">Symphony No.1</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhuCNMhlK-U" target="_blank">Symphony No.2</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0dpY_6yShI" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;" target="_blank">Trumpet Concerto</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2aNdr8dFGE" target="_blank">Variation on </a></span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2aNdr8dFGE" target="_blank">Braint</a> </i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqnc1kQT9uM" target="_blank">Violin Concerto</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>GUTO PUW [b.1972]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/guto-puw"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/guto-puw</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/guto-pryderi-puw"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/guto-pryderi-puw</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/nUv38Bfx2kc" target="_blank">Break the Stone</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/O2xPLxWGGbc" target="_blank">Hologram</a> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiBxvCAgAvo" target="_blank">Oboe Concerto (1)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSnUEDMaPmE" target="_blank">Oboe Concerto (2)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrWThMlNOPY" target="_blank">Oboe Concerto (3)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/JkEsYJ0XubQ" target="_blank">Oboe Concerto (4)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRcApQxyQC4" target="_blank">Oboe Concerto (5)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/uRg2gYKseek" target="_blank">‘...ont agoraf y drws…’</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/WRUj4SsrOMY" target="_blank">Reservoirs</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/kfghrVDYbew" target="_blank">Violin Concerto (1)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFhv8RnJkBo" target="_blank">Violin Concerto (2</a>) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>HILARY TANN [b.1947]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/hilary-tann"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/hilary-tann</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://hilarytann.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://hilarytann.com/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/hNEjjCP37XA" target="_blank">From Afar</a> </span></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mXhCtoHtyc" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;" target="_blank">From the Feather to the Mountain</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/AcrLZvTiktg" target="_blank">Here, the Cliffs</a> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/oo5ea05CRq8" target="_blank">In the First Spinning Place</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC5L5RhpNqQ" target="_blank">Shakkei</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9H4zNU8mZk" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;" target="_blank">With the Heather and Small Birds</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>HUW WATKINS [b.1976]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.schott-music.com/shop/autoren/huw-watkins"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://en.schott-music.com/shop/autoren/huw-watkins</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgbrNBFVky0" target="_blank">Cello Concerto</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnpdjRp5OT4" target="_blank">Violin Concerto</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>JOHN METCALF [b.1946]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/john-metcalf"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/john-metcalf</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.johnmetcalf.co.uk/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.johnmetcalf.co.uk/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0JMboDDm7u2wPpWmWwNgK0" target="_blank">Cello Symphony (1)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/1BCW1wqJtc3HwNFCm7mzBz" target="_blank">Cello Symphony (2)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4Ha7T9Brgx1FwbK5s3Vt3E" target="_blank">Cello Symphony (3)</a> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4ZMURpNNKgZYEE8WCeam3n" target="_blank">In Time of Daffodils (1)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0ftRN8jTaSL6OGcPCxSk36" target="_blank">In Time of Daffodils (2)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/6AEYmtipw949q7yQGlt67o" target="_blank">In Time of Daffodils (3)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/76rnkNG1mw5vQrmPfoqNgz" target="_blank">In Time of Daffodils (4)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/6fTnmsYwjVlHljEblelcDl" target="_blank">In Time of Daffodils (5)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/3PTtv61sofX2OmXX7ica3b" target="_blank">In Time of Daffodils (6)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/73zaJs2MvOHsRHepZaYRZh" target="_blank">In Time of Daffodils (7)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0tik3OZHFRIlaqvYOBPHZw" target="_blank">Mapping Wales (1)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/3bmaYGSlTIZYeweYnRnLP3" target="_blank">Mapping Wales (2)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/14LZmbwLlXWw4OwyMe6cDY" target="_blank">Mapping Wales (3)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/6Tpt1LN6TZ5LXRbdAF7NdS" target="_blank">Mapping Wales (4)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/63wqVkDAH2wRqOnQdZuvOQ" target="_blank">Mapping Wales (5)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/2CrrmIBREdhM11lyLCbay3" target="_blank">Mapping Wales (6)</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4HDax1gYK6mn3uRXYoDUFV" target="_blank">Paradise Haunts…</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/5nEC51Bu9TrYgh6HaCK58c" target="_blank">Three Mobiles (1)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/7mLWA9S9GmTmodcGC0d3uN" target="_blank">Three Mobiles (2)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/6yDcWChHqHL0bcewAZP4cF" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;" target="_blank">Three Mobiles (3)</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>JOHN HARDY [b.1957]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-indent: 36pt;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/john-hardy" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;">https://www.tycerdd.org/john-hardy</a></span></div>
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<a href="https://johnhardymusic.com/" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://johnhardymusic.com/</span></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/1gk84wJFXy2Do6HalpKhxL" target="_blank">Blue Letters from Tanganyika (1</a>) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/787jDwdBD6UeaqC5P2VVlQ" target="_blank">Blue Letters from Tanganyika (2)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/1lu3CtKqfbCdrIyzVrXImk" target="_blank">Blue Letters from Tanganyika (3)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/64T4mRaOl0zayOTsDWQAQI" target="_blank">Blue Letters from Tanganyika (4)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>JOHN REA</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.johnreamusic.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.johnreamusic.com/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/johnnyrea/bbc-national-orchestra-of-wales-illuminare-overture-commission" target="_blank">Illuminare</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>JOSEPH DAVIES [b.1987]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/joseph-davies">https://www.tycerdd.org/joseph-davies</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://josephdaviesmusic.com/" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://josephdaviesmusic.com/</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/joseph_davies/byzantium-2012" target="_blank">Byzantium</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/joseph_davies/rigaudon" target="_blank">Rigaudon</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/joseph_davies/the-shortest-day" target="_blank">The Shortest Day</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>KARL JENKINS [b.1944]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.karljenkins.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.karljenkins.com/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkFVpI0jLes" target="_blank">Euphonium Concerto (1)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxUX2X3gtgQ" target="_blank">Euphonium Concerto (2)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fjQVla7rV0" target="_blank">Euphonium Concerto (3)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbneNS3ePcU" target="_blank">Euphonium Concerto (4)</a> </span></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqmbz8W1-tA" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-indent: 48px;" target="_blank">Palladio</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: 48px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>LYNNE PLOWMAN [b.1969]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/lynne-plowman"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/lynne-plowman</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://lynneplowman.co.uk/home"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://lynneplowman.co.uk/home</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://lynneplowman.co.uk/compositions/orchestral/77-Catching+Shadows" target="_blank">Catching Shadows</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/2JEL3yl6ifsWtYsoLbXFL" target="_blank">Cries Like Silence</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>MARK BOWDEN [b.1979]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/mark-bowden"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/mark-bowden</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.markbowden.net/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.markbowden.net/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/markbowden/heartland-julian-warburton-richard-baker-bbc-now" target="_blank">Heartland</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/markbowden/lyra-oliver-coates-bbc-national-orchestra-of-wales" target="_blank">Lyra</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/markbowden/the-dawn-halts" target="_blank">The Dawn Halts</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/markbowden/tirlun" target="_blank">Tirlun</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/markbowden/a-violence-of-gifts" target="_blank">A Violence of Gifts</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>MAX CHARLES DAVIES [b.1981]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/max-charles-davies"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/max-charles-davies</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.maxcharlesdavies.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.maxcharlesdavies.com/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/maxcharlesdavies/a-very-british-summer-prayer" target="_blank">A (very British) Summer Prayer</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/maxcharlesdavies/cells-and-sanctuaries" target="_blank">Cells and Sanctuaries</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/maxcharlesdavies/moving-hues" target="_blank">Moving Hues</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/maxcharlesdavies/the-mysterious-kiss" target="_blank">The Mysterious Kiss</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>MAJA PALSER [b.1984]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.majapalsermusic.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.majapalsermusic.com/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/maja-palser">https://www.tycerdd.org/maja-palser</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/maja-palser/sets/udon" target="_blank">Udon</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/maja-palser/witches" target="_blank">Witches</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>MERVYN BURTCH [1929 – 2015]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/mervyn-burtch"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/mervyn-burtch</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/mervyn-burtch"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/mervyn-burtch</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/3I4ibGcZ6ConY9J84RjJ0O" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;" target="_blank">Aladdin Overture</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/francescakaypoet/the_first_dragon" target="_blank">The First Dragon</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>MICHAEL PARKIN </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/michael-parkin" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/michael-parkin</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://michaelparkin.info/index.htm"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://michaelparkin.info/index.htm</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/michael-parkin/srebrenica" target="_blank">Srebrenica</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>MORFYDD OWEN [1891 – 1918]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/morfydd-owen"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/morfydd-owen</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/morfydd-owen"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/morfydd-owen</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTr9h4eNnn8" target="_blank">Nocturne</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/430kVdo3eSbPRJIHUGZ27" target="_blank">Threnody</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>NATHAN JAMES DEARDEN [b.1992]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://nathanjamesdearden.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://nathanjamesdearden.com/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/nathan-james-dearden"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/nathan-james-dearden</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://nathanjamesdearden.com/hafan" target="_blank">Hafan</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>PAUL MEALOR [b.1974]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/paul-mealor"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/paul-mealor</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.paulmealor.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.paulmealor.com/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyZzbu2907w" target="_blank">Symphony No.2</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>PETER REYNOLDS [1958 – 2016]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/peter-reynolds"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.orianapublications.co.uk/peter-reynolds</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/peter-reynolds"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/peter-reynolds</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.petereynoldscomposer.co.uk/">http://www.petereynoldscomposer.co.uk/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/peter-reynolds-2/canons-for-the-longest-day" target="_blank">Canons for the Longest Day</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>RHIAN SAMUEL [b.1944]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/rhian-samuel"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/rhian-samuel</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.rhiansamuel.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.rhiansamuel.com/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/41HWaJ3KJFQ" target="_blank">Clytemnestra (Movement 2)</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7ILaYaWvug" target="_blank">Dances of the Stream</a> </span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>RICHARD ELFYN JONES [b.1944]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/richard-elfyn-jones"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/richard-elfyn-jones</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/richard-elfyn-jones" target="_blank">Brangwyn Festival Overture</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>SARAH LIANE LEWIS [b.1988]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/sarah-lianne-lewis"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/sarah-lianne-lewis</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.sarahliannelewis.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.sarahliannelewis.com/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/sarahliannelewis/blossoms-in-bloom-are-also-falling-blossoms" target="_blank">Blossoms in bloom are also falling blossoms</a> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/sarahliannelewis/chiaroscuro-taken-from-i-cant" target="_blank">Chiaroscuro</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/sarahliannelewis/is-there-no-seeker-of-dreams-that-were-excerpt" target="_blank">Is There No Seeker of Dreams That Were? (excerpt)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>WILLIAM MATHIAS [1934 – 1992]</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tycerdd.org/william-mathias"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.tycerdd.org/william-mathias</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjmKCdiqs5w" target="_blank">Celtic Dances</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWSPk3FDrkU" target="_blank">Concerto for Clarinet</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elHA8sPmHM4" target="_blank">Concerto for Harp</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSzi_IqJ4B8" target="_blank">Dance Overture</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OrbCVkG1NM" target="_blank">Flute Concerto</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we1RnNGCDRY" target="_blank">Harpsichord Concerto</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypsuZXaM0vk" target="_blank">Helios</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpSFCCWskMI" target="_blank">In Arcadia</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAcdWl6y5Es" target="_blank">Invocation and Dance</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsbFSsrUfqw" target="_blank">Laudi </a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4NrbU5hHPeil35MZy1zcPJ" target="_blank">Oboe Concerto (1)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0SsmFgL6r8Fzf7EHrwaOCZ" target="_blank">Oboe Concerto (2)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/3llDLnI9dFQqMQFzs6Zmbx" target="_blank">Oboe Concerto (3)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYVA7aQrvFM" target="_blank">Piano Concerto No.1</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/1mBOmiCUqt4mcoa02ojfh8" target="_blank">Piano Concerto No.2 (1)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/3QbvmnkyWgWARbs7dpmYhn" target="_blank">Piano Concerto No.2 (2)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/7oyoFap69yZ5u9yw3JGY9j" target="_blank">Piano Concerto No.2 (3)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4376xwaFeTknyHUzCIXV24" target="_blank">Piano Concerto No.2 (4)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-31190296052884787552014-10-12T02:56:00.000+01:002015-01-21T16:41:01.578+00:00If I weren't the way I am, I shouldn't write my symphonies. [Gustav Mahler] - PART FIVE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As it's the end of National Depression Week I thought that I'd write a little about how things have been going in the last eighteen months since being diagnosed with clinical depression and starting on my medication. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At first, I felt a tremendous relief that someone was finally taking me seriously and not simply telling me to pull myself together (I'd told myself that often enough) and that treatment was being offered. The preferred form of treatment is counselling (or talking therapy to use the modern jargon) but, unfortunately, there is a waiting list for this. My employer has been, on the whole, very supportive. I was offered counselling but this takes the form of one half hour session over the phone - if my problems were that easy I'd have sorted myself out long ago! So, the option quickly changed to medication and, being prescribed a Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor (SSRI), I became the Sertraline Kid. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Whether it was the placebo effect, the relief at the diagnosis or the immediate support of friends but I started to feel better and more positive (probably aided by the diagnosis and treatment of my diabetes and sleep apnoea) and it wasn't such an effort to get out of bed in the mornings and to leave the house. I was started on the lowest dose but, within a few months, was gradually moved up to the maximum, where I have stayed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SSRIs are not happy pills, they still allow one to feel happiness and sadness but they enable the depressed person to function and experience 'normal' emotions. During the past eighteen months, the Sertraline Kid has fallen off his horse several times and there have been very dark times when, if I'm to be frank, I've struggled to keep on going. Fortunately for me, there has either been a good friend around to pick me up or I've been conscious of the fact that I need to battle on as my Dad and the Labrador rely on me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Although Sertraline allows me to function in everyday situations and to cope with the pressures and stresses of work, it does have a down side in that although it focuses my mind, it removes the emotional drive to compose. It's ironic that when I'm being ruled by the Black Dog I have an irresistible urge to express myself through music but I find it very hard to focus my thoughts to do it and that when on medication I have the focus but loose the urge. I found when writing "Bugles Sang" for the National Youth Orchestra of Wales that I was see-sawing between both states by taking and not taking my medication - abstaining for a few days to get the creative impulse and then restarting in order to focus enough to get everything down on paper. Those few weeks were a real roller coaster of emotions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Having thought that the Sertraline wasn't working, coming off it was a revelation. It is only when one stops the medication (not to be recommended) that one realises how effective it has been. That said, it can only do so much and one has to accept its limitations. I've been a depressive, with seriously dark periods, for over thirty years and two little pills everyday are not going to change that completely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I saw a quote the other day "Think you're depressed? What if your pills are really working and your life is just shit?" It's a flippant remark but one that has more than an element of truth in it. We all have our problems, stresses and worries; the depressive person simply can't deal with them nor get them into perspective. We are already predisposed to unhappiness and dark thoughts and sometimes fail to appreciate that we are justified in feeling low because, actually, something shit has happened. I have, after a little thought, identified several things in my life that, if they were to be different, would have a massive effect upon my mood and general outlook on life. All I need to do now is to have the courage to face up to them!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have spent time in my own personal hell and have faced down some of my demons although others still torment me. We all have the desire to be liked and loved but the depressive person craves it and wants constant reassurance. I'm aware that I have become very narcissistic and want to be constantly told that my music isn't shite and that it means something to the people that I like, love and respect. There is a persistent and pernicious need for approval and validation, to the point of being pathetic. Normally, if you hate someone or something you just keep away from them, what do you do when you hate oneself? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Self-loathing is a major problem and very hard to overcome. When people are nice I tend to think it's because they pity me for being a failure and my response can be quite awkward. Everyone has a level of self-doubt, the depressive person develops this into an art-form.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, the last eighteen months have been both difficult and enlightening as the Sertraline Kid has ridden the Ranges of Depression, frequently falling off his trusty steed and landing on his backside in the dust. I have learnt (and am learning) much about myself and also seeing the world in a different light. I think I'm becoming more tolerant having realised that we can never know what's going on in someone else's mind and what their troubles might be - as the saying goes "Don't judge someone else, you have no idea what their journey might be" - and, deep down, beneath all the bravado, we are all fragile creatures. </span></div>
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Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-64285733981603673872014-07-07T19:05:00.001+01:002014-07-28T09:13:45.232+01:00BUGLES SANG - Article written for the Friends of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales Newsletter - www.friendsofthenash.org<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">BUGLES SANG</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">– commissioned by the National Youth
Orchestra of Wales for their Summer 2014 tour.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">For any composer, being asked to write a
work is an honour in itself as it signifies a high level of trust between the
commissioner, the performer(s) (if different) and the composer. To be asked to
write for a performer or performers that one respects is an even greater honour
and a privilege to be treasured. So, for me to receive a second
commission to write for the National Youth Orchestra of Wales is not only a
great honour but also something very special in my career.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">My first commission for the NYOW,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>Invisible Cities</b>, was premiered
in 1999 under the inspirational conductor Christopher Adey who has since become
a close friend. I was very fortunate to be invited to take part in the course
that year (having been invited to the 1998 course in order to observe the
rehearsals and get to know the orchestra) and the experience has stayed with me
ever since. Composition for me is not just about writing the piece in isolation
but also about getting to know the performers and setting out to tailor the new
work not only to their strengths but also, in some way, to their personalities.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In both 1998 and 1999, I had a fantastic
two weeks with the orchestra which were informative, motivating and, above all,
fun. Being Composer-in-Residence in 1999 allowed me to not only attend all
rehearsals but to discuss my work with the players, work with them in
sectionals, receive useful feedback from the course tutors, take part in some
composition sessions with young composers and have long discussions, often into
the early hours, with both the tutors and Chris Adey. My attendance on the
course afforded me the unusual luxury of being able to try out different ideas,
make alterations and even, at the suggestion of Chris, to write a completely
new part for offstage brass band to utilise some players who were not
originally involved in the piece – this actually made a major difference, for
the better, to the finished work.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">To be asked, fifteen years later, to write
another work for NYOW is very stimulating, if a little daunting, and the
opportunity to work with Jac van Steen, for whom I have a great deal of
respect, is fantastic. Jac and I have worked together at the BBC National
Orchestra of Wales where he has conducted three of my pieces, including the
premiere of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>Furnace of Colours</b>,
the commission for which he was largely responsible for championing. Jac has
been a great support and inspiration to me and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>Bugles Sang is<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></b>dedicated to him in recognition of
this.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Of course, there is a natural pressure to
come up with a work as least as good as the previous one and this can make the
genesis of the new work difficult. The tyranny of the blank page is the hardest
thing to overcome, especially when one doesn’t want to fall short of people’s
expectations nor to let down those who have confidence in one.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It was with all of the foregoing that I
approached the composition of what was to become<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>Bugles Sang</b>, my nineteenth
piece for orchestra and the first orchestral piece to be completed since<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>Furnace of Colours</b>, although it
was to be some time before this title and subject matter emerged.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">My original thoughts for title and subject
matter ranged from Welsh folklore to Dylan Thomas to Shakespeare with initial
working titles including<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Captain
Cat’s Dream</i>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Twm Sion Cati</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The
School for Witches</i>. I finally settled for<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>On
Llareggub Hill</i>, a description of a day in a provincial Welsh seaside town.
I was less than 30 seconds into the piece before I became aware that there were
several other pieces being written on the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Under
Milk Wood</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>theme and that mine
wasn't going to offer anything new.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">So, back to the drawing board and more
time thinking before committing any notes to paper (actually to screen as I do
not sketch and work straight into full score on the computer – I’m too lazy to
make more than one copy of the score! That said, I should point out that I do
not use the playback facilities that computers provide; they are seldom
accurate - particularly in balance – and I prefer to keep all the sounds in my
head) and much pacing around, reading, talking to myself and coffee drinking.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">During all this time, I had been making a
conscious effort to stay away from my other passion, poetry. I have written a
number of works that have been inspired by poetry including a group connected
to the poetry of Welsh poet and contemporary of Dylan Thomas, Vernon Watkins.
Finally I relented and, returning to my teenage years, started re-reading the
war poetry of Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. This proved to
be the solution to my problem with several poems suggesting a theme and a
structure for the new piece. After a while, the ideas started to emerge from
the mental mists and I settled upon the title of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Bugles Sang</i>.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Although the work is in one continuous
movement, I conceived it as being in four sections which do not directly
describe the poetry but do take it as their starting point. The first and third
sections are a depiction of warfare and its horrors with scurrying semiquavers
and explosive chords whilst the second section, an uneasy nocturne, forms the
core of the work.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">This nocturne is a tableau of the
battlefield at night, an eerily quiet landscape that has been torn asunder by
the ravages of warfare, calmly waiting for the horrors of the next day. My
ideas when approaching this movement centred around two main themes - the
stories of the thousands of men who marched through the Menin gate on their way
to the carnage of the Battle of Ypres and how, with the exception of the years
of German occupation in the Second World War, the Last Post is sounded there at
every sunset. I have tried to allude to this without directly quoting this most
distinctive of bugle calls although it is difficult to avoid comparison with
its use in music relating to this period in our history.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The second idea came from the story that
the Welsh soldiers, whilst in the trenches the evening before going into battle
- cold, wet and fearing the worst - sang the Welsh hymn<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Cwm Rhondda</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and how the sound drifted across the
silent battlefield. I have quoted the hymn in full, using the well-known Arwel
Hughes harmonisation, but fragmented and at half speed in an attempt to give it
a sense of other-worldliness, total weariness and foreboding.<u1:p></u1:p> In
addition, a solo violin sings out above the hymn, an evocation of the Angel of
Mons looking down benignly on the soldiers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The conclusion to the work presented
another problem – to end it on a sombre note to reflect what we now know about the
Great War and its horrors or to concentrate on what must have been the
prevailing emotions of the time. After much thought I decided to go with the
latter as, without knowing of the horrors to come two decades later, the
carnage of the Great War would have been seen as justifiable and the conclusion
of “the war to end all wars” would have been a triumph.<u1:p></u1:p> There is,
however, a slight allusion, in timpani, celli and bass, to the rhythm from
Holst’s “Mars” from “The Planets” as a portent of the war that was to come twenty
one years later.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The musical language of the work is
derived from expanded tonality and contains a great deal of chromaticism but
doesn’t use the idea of row rotation that I have used extensively over the past
few years. I developed my own technique of row rotations as a way of moving on
from the strict use of serial technique that I was using in the 1980s which,
although highly logical, had led me down a compositional blind alley. Whilst I
wouldn’t claim to have discovered the technique – it has been around since
serialism began, I did adapt it (as did Alun Hoddinott before me) to suit my
own compositional process within a tonal environment;<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>Bugles Sang</b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>marks my departure from this technique
and a return to free composition.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Another feature which<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>Bugles Sang</b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>has in common with other recent works
is that it contains a re-working of material from earlier works. It’s not
necessary for me to identify where these are from as the influences behind the
other works do not relate to this one, it is purely a continual working out of
material. The Danish composer Per Norgaard believes that musical works have no
beginning or end, we simply dip in and out of one musical continuum to create
snapshots. In a similar, but much more simplistic way, I like to re-use and
re-work material from my pieces in order to create a continuum between my
works, as if they all belong to the same family.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I firmly believe that the process of
creating a new work is a collaborative one between composer and performer(s) –
I have tried to do my job to the best of my ability, I am looking forward
immensely to the performances of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>Bugles
Sang</b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and can’t wait to hear
what the talented players of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales and Jac van
Steen make out of my scribbling.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bugles sang, saddening the evening air;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And bugles answered, sorrowful to hear.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Voices of boys were by the river-side.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sleep mothered them; and left the twilight
sad.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The shadow of the morrow weighed on men.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Voices of old despondency resigned,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Bowed by the shadow of the morrow, slept.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="right" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Wilfred Owen</span><u1:p></u1:p></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="right" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It seems that out of battle I escaped<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Down some profound dull tunnel, long since
scooped<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Through granites which titanic wars had
groined.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Too fast in thought or death to be
bestirred.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, and
stared<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">With piteous recognition in fixed eyes,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Lifting distressful hands as if to bless.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">And no guns thumped, or down the flues
made moan.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">"Strange friend," I said,
"here is no cause to mourn."<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">"None", said the other,
"save the undone years,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The hopelessness. Whatever hope is yours,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Was my life also; I went hunting wild<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">After the wildest beauty in the world,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">For by my glee might many men have laughed,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">And of my weeping something had been left,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Which must die now. I mean the truth
untold,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The pity of war, the pity war distilled.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Now men will go content with what we
spoiled.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Or, discontent, boil boldly, and be
spilled.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">They will be swift with swiftness of the
tigress,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">None will break ranks, though nations trek
from progress.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Miss we the march of this retreating world<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Into vain citadels that are not walled.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Then, when much blood had clogged their
chariot-wheels<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I would go up and wash them from sweet
wells,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Even from wells we sunk too deep for war,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Even from the sweetest wells that ever
were.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I am the enemy you killed, my friend.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I knew you in this dark; for so you frowned<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Yesterday through me as you jabbed and
killed.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I parried; but my hands were loath and
cold.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us sleep now..."<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="right" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Wilfred Owen</span><u1:p></u1:p></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="right" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Soldiers are citizens of death's grey land,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In the great hour of destiny they stand,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and
sorrows.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Some flaming, fatal climax with their
lives.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">They think of firelit homes, clean beds
and wives.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by
rats,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">And in the ruined trenches, lashed with
rain,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Dreaming of things they did with balls and
bats,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">And mocked by hopeless longing to regain<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and
spats,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">And going to the office in the train.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="right" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Siegfried Sassoon</span><u1:p></u1:p></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">There's none of these so lonely and poor
of old,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than
gold.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">These laid the world away; poured out the
red<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Sweet wine of youth; gave up the years to
be<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">That men call age; and those who would
have been,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Their sons, they gave, their immortality.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Blow, bugles, blow! They brought us, for
our dearth,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Holiness, lacked so long, and Love, and
Pain.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Honour has come back, as a king, to earth,<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">And paid his subjects with a royal wage;<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">And Nobleness walks in our ways again;<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">And we have come into our heritage.<o:p></o:p></span><u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="right" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Rupert Brooke</span><u1:p></u1:p></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
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Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-34984430128098284922014-06-30T18:01:00.000+01:002014-06-30T18:01:04.386+01:00"DAWN" : in Memory of Nurse Edith Cavell's Noble Sacrifice - written by Thomas Owen David (Owain ap Japheth), my great-grandfather.<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></h2>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">DAWN</span></h2>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><i>In memory of NURSE CAVELL'S Noble Sacrifice</i></span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A cultured cavalcade of Death</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pass'd on to wend its tragic way,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All Nature sobb'd in anguished breath</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That fateful morn at break of day.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The sombre radiance of the morn</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Diffused its sympathetic light;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Grey clouds, as if to mercy born,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Look'd down and wonder'd at the sight.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Albion's fair daughter stood erect,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Arrayed in pity's noble mien,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And view'd the Kaiser's horde elect</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Like a great early Christian Queen.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">No thought of pomp and martial flame,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ambition and world fleeting praise;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In mercy's uniform she came,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With Christ-like, tender, humble ways.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A sweet reflection of our Lord</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Shone forth in that great act benign;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She died to save, and her reward</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Is everlasting peace divine.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A stagger'd world gave forth a sob</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Which rent its bleeding heart in twain,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That such a bloody deed should rob,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And leave an aching void of pain.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To lay one's life down for a friend</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Is sacrifice beyond compare - </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">'Tis God in man, through Christ a blend</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Of Calvary in love and prayer.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A prayer in action so profound,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That through eternity of space</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">'Twill thrill to unknown worlds around</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The essence of all saving grace.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The days of Saints are with us yet</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In noble acts, great and sublime;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nurse Cavell we can ne'er forget,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Her name will live to end of time.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Immortal acts like those now shine</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Like Beacon Lights, through gloom of war,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In rays of glorious light divine</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On cruel deeds which we abhor.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oh! Martyr of our Country's call,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Death could not kill thy living deed;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Before thy shrine we humbly fall,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For liberty thy soul was freed.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The spirit of her brave pure soul</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Will stimulate each British heart</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To reach victorious freedom's goal,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And emulate her glorious part.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The sting of death could not appall</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Her dauntless soul, She lives to reign</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In hearts of Britons - one and all:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Her sacrifice is not in vein.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Her blood was shed on freedom's bier,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A woman's blood for you and me.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Through din of war, men, can't you hear</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Her voice - the voice of Liberty?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wake up! my gallant little Wales,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Come forth and gird thy armour on.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Like rushing torrents from thy vales, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sweep down, avenge those that are gone.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Arise! dear Britain, land of Freedom,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let not this be to thy shame,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Smile the brutal hordes of Edom,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Strike for Justice, not for fame.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fight for chivalry and honour,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For our women's hallowed place,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fight 'gainst tyranny's oppression,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With the valour of our race.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let us to the Holy City,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Climb the steeps of Zion's hill,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On to Galilee where Jesus</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Whisper'd once His 'Peace be still.'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oh may God in His great mercy</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once again those words repeat,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That the storms of War be silenced</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In His peace be still complete.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thomas Owen David</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(Owain ap Japheth)</span></div>
Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-90555076366589928972014-01-16T00:01:00.019+00:002022-10-19T00:15:16.710+01:00The Composer Speaks! (Well, mumbles somewhat incoherently)<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Christopher
Painter – interviewed by Peter Reynolds<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i>What are your strongest musical memories
from your childhood?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">I’m told that my first musical experiences would have been pre-birth,
which sounds awfully pretentious. My mother, who was confined to bed when she
was in the last stages of her pregnancy, spent her time listening to
Shostakovich’s symphonies. Apparently, when I was a baby, to get me to sleep
they would play me recordings of his symphonies and then I would go to sleep! I’m
still very fond of Shostakovich’s music and return to it frequently.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">So you
came from a musical background?</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">My mother was a writer, short stories mainly, and a
journalist. My dad was a sportsman and worked for the railway, and later, the
local steelworks. But there was always that Welsh thing about the importance of
culture. My great-grandfather on my mother’s side, Thomas Owen David, was a poet and a composer. I
still have some of his poetry but the majority of it and all the compositions
were lost when my grandmother gave it away for war salvage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">There
was an extraordinary degree of culture in rural Wales in those days.</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Yes. My great-grandfather died at a very young age and I can
understand why. He would work in the steelworks all day and then sit up all
night writing poetry or music. He wrote in the English and Welsh languages (writing in a particularly elegant and grammatically correct Welsh) and was a member of the Gorsedd of Bards under the name Owain ap Japheth. There was an awareness that work was what you
needed to do to get by but that culture was the important thing. There was also
the Welsh thing of always striving to better oneself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">So, was there much cultural activity in Port Talbot when you were
growing up?</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Oh yes. There was, and still is, a great deal of artistic
activity – literary groups, amateur dramatics, brass bands, choral societies
and artist’s groups. There was a lot of amateur music-making going on and I was
able to try out many things. We were very lucky in that we had free
instrumental tuition in school – I tried out several instruments, including the recorder, ukulele and violin. Fortunately, I ended up deciding I wanted to play
the trumpet which was probably the best move I ever made. It brought me into contact
with Walter White, from Ystradgynlais, who started out as my trumpet teacher
and later went on to become my classroom music teacher. He not only pointed me
in the direction of the local brass band (I still play in brass bands now) but
encouraged me to take music seriously, I have a great deal to thank him for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">So is
that how you began to compose, through that teacher?</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Yes. There was a prevailing ethos that music isn’t in
a vacuum. You don’t just play it or you don’t just write or talk about it, try composing and conducting it. We used to get pieces performed in school and this
encouraged us to be adventurous. I wrote a lot of brass quintets and pieces for
the local brass band that I played in. I’ve still got a Requiem that I wrote
when I was about fourteen! Severely sub-Verdi!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">So you
were writing, really, from your early teens?</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Yes. We also had a magical store cupboard in the music
room which was full of recordings and scores and I remember taking records
home. One could just help
oneself. One was very privileged if told that one could just go
there whenever one wanted to. One didn’t have to have permission and I remember
taking records home. Also, we had quite a record collection at home. Again, we were
fortunate in those days that there were a lot of local record shops. I don’t
think there’s one classical record shop in Port Talbot, now. Or one shop where you could even buy classical records.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">So you were obviously at a good school…</span></i></div>
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<i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">There was a very strong brass tradition, so my original
influences were brass and one was encouraged to write. I was expected to
conduct school assembly every morning, so I had the experience of actually
having to get up and do it as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">What kind of things were you listening to at that kind of stage?</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">I was heavily into Berlioz and started to find Stravinsky and Britten. I
didn’t formally study for ‘A’ level; I chose double maths and physics and was
going to be a civil engineer and actually got a place in Swansea to study civil
engineering. Just before I left school, the economics teacher came over to me
and actually talked me out of it - saying that he had turned his back on music for a 'safer' career and had constantly regretted it. That summer, I went on a brass band course at
Marlborough College (I had been several times before) which was led by Edward
Gregson. I had composition and conducting lessons with him and he reinforced
the advice to follow a career in music. So I went back to school for an extra
year, did my ‘A’ level and, on the recommendation of Walter White, went to
Cardiff University, partly because in my third year I heard a lot of Hoddinott
records and wanted to study with him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; text-indent: 0cm;"><i><span style="color: blue;">So, in
fact, it was Hoddinott being Professor at Cardiff that led you to Cardiff
University. </span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 42.5pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 42.5pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -42.5pt;"><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; text-indent: 0cm;"><span style="color: blue;">What kind of Hoddinott pieces were you hearing before you came to
Cardiff?</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"> Walter White pointed me towards the
orchestral works and I just loved the sound world. The most notable works were <b>The Sun the Luminary of the Universe</b><i>, </i><b>Third Symphony</b> and <b>Variants</b>, whilst the <b>Fifth Symphony</b> just knocked me sideways; one
of the pivotal pieces. One could really hear the planning and the piece’s
integrity.</span></div>
<h1 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>And what did you get from Hoddinott when you went to him?</i></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">I didn’t get to study with Hoddinott until I returned
as a postgraduate. My initial, undergraduate, study was with Timothy Taylor who
went through the basics with us and then I spent two years studying with
Richard Elfyn Jones who taught me to handle material more efficiently and
economically and helped me to attempt extended forms. It was only after my B.Mus that I went on to study with "The Prof".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">What kind of pieces were you writing as an undergraduate? Had they moved
from your school days or were you discovering lots of new things at that time?</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">I was trying everything and anything, to be honest. I
was very lucky in the year I was in college, we had a lot of good performers
and a lot of people wanted to play new music. I was lucky to have a number of
friends who were good players and would come and say “Write us something”. So
it was a chance to write for odd combinations, or for established ensembles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Was postgraduate study a good experience for you? What did you get from
your sessions with Hoddinott?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">When I came to study with Hoddinott I had to think a
lot harder to justify what I was doing and tutorials were very intense but also
enjoyable. Hoddinott focused my mind on what I was doing and encouraged me to
be much more critical of my work and to concentrate on the minute details.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">So Hoddinott focused your mind on the integrity of the
material?</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">And slowed me down, because I used to write very, very
quickly; I was very fluent and I could write pieces easily but there was very
little substance to them although they helped to develop my technique. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">Alun
Hoddinott himself was a very facile composer, in the best sense, but he worked
it all out in advance. It’s interesting that he should have slowed you down.</span><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Yes. Even when copying his music, I couldn’t keep up with
him. In our lessons he’d comment, “Why have you put those notes here? If you
can’t explain why they’re there, they shouldn’t be there.” And it was that
process that slowed me down to condense what I was doing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">So that was actually a milestone, really, in terms of developing your
technique?</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">He’d say, “Well, if you want to do this seriously,
then you have to approach it seriously”. There was much more emphasis on the
thought behind it. I think he believed, at that stage, that putting notes on paper wasn’t difficult; it was the thought behind the notes which was
important.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">And the
professionalism of being a composer?</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"> Yes. If you </span><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; text-indent: -42.5pt;">take something on, you do it and it’s always done to the highest
standards, and you behave properly. One of his maxims which has stuck with me:
“There’s no such thing as a good or bad composer, there are just those who give
up.” You keep at it. If you believe in what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter if
other people say it’s no good, as long as your faith in your technique is good.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">What happened after university, in terms of your development as a
composer?</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">I basically sat in my flat
and worked, and didn’t get a piece played for ten years. I naively thought
“Right, if I start writing, people will start playing it” – I learnt a very
hard and useful lesson there! There were at least thirty pieces, all now
destroyed, I started but never finished. I just thought “There’s no point!
Nobody’s going to be playing this!” I also, at that time, preferred the big
form, rather than chamber music, so I was writing pieces that wouldn’t get
performed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">What got you out of that cul-de-sac into writing
again?</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">I had a
very uncomfortable dinner with Alun and Rhiannon (Hoddinott). And I had two hours of
brow-beating from the two of them about wasting my time, and “What the **** do
you think you’re doing?” They challenged me to write a small work so I wrote a
carol and that got me back into the swing of it. Also, a Lower Machen Festival
commission also came in - the first thing I actually had performed publicly,
for ten years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">How do you view things these days? Do you have a
forward plan, or do you think in terms of responding to commissions as they
come along? </span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Both,
in a way, and they’re linked. In the past, I’ve tended to want to write big
pieces. I’ve been trying to write big orchestral pieces and I’ve been lucky in
the last three years: I’ve had two played. My big ambition was to get a BBC
commission but I’ve realized that it is not the be all and end all. I'm not very good at getting out there and getting commissions and find the promotion side of being a composer very difficult. I either do very little or go about it in a very heavy-handed and clumsy way. I have a number of pieces that I want to write but no idea how to get them commissioned so I tend to wait until I'm asked and hope that commissions fit in with my plans. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">What about the composition process itself: how does a piece begin? Is
the process a very long one, or does it actually happen quite quickly? </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">It’s a slow process. I find once I’m past the first
page, it’s OK. I have a tendency always to want to write the big opening. I’m trying
to consciously move away from that and be happy to write a slow opening or a
quiet opening. Just to write exactly what I think I should be writing, not what
I think will please. I’m well along the road back from serialism, because I did
get into total serialism at one point, which was useful at the time. It didn’t
have a good future though. Once you’ve done it, I don’t think you can keep on
being so prescriptive. So I use elements of serialism and adapt them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent3" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">But it does provide a backbone and way of moving notes
around the page I suppose. </span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Since I’ve been teaching I can see students thinking
in the way I used to. I used to have in mind who might analyse my music. I
thought “You have to do the right thing because somebody’s going to go through
this and look at it” and then you get to a point where you think “I don’t
really care who analyses it: that’s what I want to write”.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin-left: 42.5pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 42.5pt; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -42.5pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">What about writing a piece? Do you write for a set number of hours a day, or is the</span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin-left: 42.5pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 42.5pt; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -42.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i>process </i></span><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; text-indent: -42.5pt;">more piecemeal?</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin-left: 42.5pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 42.5pt; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -42.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;"><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; text-indent: -42.5pt;"><br /></i></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; text-align: start;">It’s become piecemeal through necessity. I originally started music copying as a means to be able to compose, but the hours required for copying meant that the composition time became increasingly squashed. The Britten thing of getting up at a set time and working set hours has always been an attractive idea of that, but it’s never, ever worked yet. I long to be able to devote long periods to writing and to plan my work schedule but, by necessity, I have to cram in the odd minutes and hours when I can.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">Are you
influenced at all by external stimuli, or are they always purely musical ideas?
I remember seeing a harp piece, I think, based on Lake Vyrnwy.</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Yes. I got very hung up on
Lake Vyrnwy and was influenced by its folklore. It’s a fantastic part of the
world. I can understand how all the folklore has evolved up there when one sits
in the forest there watching the birds, especially when it gets dark. There are also external stimuli in the piece <b>Toward
the Light</b> which I wrote for the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
Symphony Orchestra here. It came out of a walk from Birling Gap to Eastbourne over
the Downs along the edge of the cliffs past Beachy Head. It was a terribly foggy day and a boat had been blown up onto the cliffs and smashed.
That made a big impact on me, and the whole piece is this journey, really.
Things like that affect me. Poetry and painting also affect me to a certain
degree and I have been greatly influenced by the poetry of Vernon Watkins too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 42.5pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;">Do you tend to through compose or do you need to sketch a lot to discover the structure?</span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">I prefer to write straight
into full score and rarely sketch. I tend to have a structure in mind before I
start. But it’s not set in stone. I know roughly where we’re going. It’s just
getting the balance right and as I go through I’m continually going back
through the score and adjusting the structure. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">We just talked about you going back over pieces. When
a piece is finished and performed, do you go back and revise, or is it finished
by then?</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">One thing that was said to
me, certainly by Alun, and I seem to remember by Tim Taylor as well, was that
the time it takes you to revise a piece, you could write a new one. So don’t
get bogged down with continually revising. I do go back sometimes and look at things.
But you could tinker forever, going back and forth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">And are you a piano composer or a desk man when it comes to composing?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">A desk man: I can’t play the piano to save my life but
I do try things out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">Verticals and things?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Yes, and just to see if
things work. I forced myself very early on to hear things in my head rather
than rely on the piano. This has, unfortunately, become more difficult since I
developed tinnitus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">Do you ever play your score back on the computer?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">I try not to. I got into a
habit of doing it, and I suddenly realised I was destroying a lot of stuff that
was actually going to work. I’ve started to preach to all my students: “Don’t
play it back on the computer!” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">Your music suggests a pre-occupation, to my mind with
classical forms. Do these the classical forms of the past, the traditional form
of symphony, concerto and so forth, play a big part in your music?</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">They have done. I had an
e-mail about three years ago from somebody from an American contemporary music
group saying they’d looked at my website, and they’d looked down my list of
works and they said “You write sonatas and quartets. Are you sure you shouldn’t
be dead!” Fair enough! There was a fairly heated exchange of e-mails, but I
thought, “That’s charming!” I don’t agree with the sentiments, but part of the
point was well taken.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">Or are you one who has been trying to move away from those forms, in a
sense?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">I’m
starting to. I think it’s a confidence thing. Again, when I first left college,
I felt: “Well, you have to write a symphony, you have to write a quartet in the
style of...” And if you’re going to call it a quartet, then you write the four
movements. As time goes on, one starts getting more and more confident and one thinks “I can write a quartet but it doesn’t have to be a
four-movement quartet with a scherzo and so forth.
Logically, if you think of it that way: there is no reason to follow the form
because no-one ever has. The form has evolved. I like the idea of sonata form.
My ultimate preference is continual variations. I like the idea of: “I’ll start
there, and that will evolve right through the piece”. You may not recognize it
by the time you get two-thirds of the way through, but it is based on the
original.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">It’s like a bit of material working for you.</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">I love puzzles. I love
working out puzzles. I love working out how things come together. To a certain
extent, I approach composition like building a puzzle. You get your building
blocks and you ask “How can I manipulate these to get me from here to there?”
When I can really get down to doing that, I really enjoy it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">So, in a sense, it’s a bit more about manipulating
material rather than that straight-jacketing that we were talking about as
serialism and pre-plans of pre-composition, and so on.</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">That’s the part of
serialism that I hated. The bit I like, and still use, are sets of row
rotations. I use a lot of row rotations. I don’t do it strictly though and have
my own way of doing it. But I end up with sheets of blocks of notes but then
there’s no strict use of them. I can just use them when I want within a fairly
fluid tonal framework.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">It’s more like what the Americans call “Set Theory”.</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Yes. It’s a set of notes. In
one piece I ended up with 300 different sets that were all interrelated and I could
cut together. You could just pick one or two. If I write a big orchestral piece
I tend to use those row rotations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">In terms of what’s going on in music today, how would
you feel about the contemporary music scene? How do you see what’s been going
on in the last few years?</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">I like the diversity. I
like the fact that, for the first time, I can write what I like without
worrying that it doesn’t fit in with some current trend. I have to say, I see
some contemporary music as “Emperor’s New Clothes”. If a certain composer with
a certain standing writes something, he’s always going to be regarded as good,
and those who criticise him will be called “Imbeciles” for
misunderstanding it. But there are those who can write what they like and it
will be said “That’s wonderful!”, because it’s the thing to do, as it were.
One is perceived as being intelligent by supporting them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">How do you see the interaction between composer and
performer? Do you like writing for any particular performers, and is that quite
important in the way that it was for someone like Britten?</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">I think it’s great to know whom you’re writing for.
I’ve been very lucky to be able to work with performers and find out from people
what might work better or something that takes you down a really different
route. I was Ensemble Cymru’s first Composer in Association and wrote a
substantial part for the guitarist Craig Ogden as part of an education project.
I’d never written for guitar before and I didn’t have a clue. But it was great,
partly because he’s such a nice guy anyway, and took me to one side and said
“This ain’t gonna work, but if you do it this way…” Not only did it work, but I
went away and re-wrote the thing, and it completely changed the shape of it
because that opened another avenue which I didn’t realise I could do. That’s
how it should be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">How do you feel about the
opportunities for composers in Wales, today?</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">There are a lot of positives and negatives. Performance-wise,
there are a lot of positives but I think we have a problem in thinking we’re a
little country. We don’t have much self-confidence. We’re not very good at
telling the world how good we are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">Do you think there’s
enough promotion done inside Wales? </span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Frankly, no; there’s a lot
of promotion done by voluntary bodies and ensembles but our official bodies,
who are charged with doing their day-to-day work, could do a lot more. There’s
a lot of talk of new initiatives and we, as practitioners, are told that we
should be innovative, but I don’t see much innovation or support coming out of
the bodies that tell us to be innovative. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">It also seems to me that
notated music using classical musical instruments is seen as being less and
less of a priority these days.</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">It’s an awful phrase but
“dumbing down” is an apt term for what we are doing. The kind of music I write
is seen as elitist. That makes me furious. I don’t want to be elitist; I want
everyone to listen to what I do. Rather than trying to raise the standards so
that everyone can take part in so-called “serious music”, they want us to lower
our standards then we’re accused of being elitist when we refuse. It’s not
elitist, but if you want to play the piano, you have to be able to play the
piano. You can’t just come along and open the lid and expect it to play
itself. It’s like anything. You wouldn’t call sport elitist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">No, and you have to reach
very high technical standards to be a good sportsperson.</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Yes. So there’s a
disparity. There was an instance back last year where there was an issue about
raising money to send sportsmen to the Commonwealth Games. I don’t see a lot of
fuss being made about raising money to send musicians overseas, or to promote
music in communities. We have the odd nod towards it, but people don’t start
screaming and shouting that there should be more money going into music to encourage
the “ordinary person” to get involved in music, whatever the “ordinary person”
is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">But surely there are good
factors as well?</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">There’s a growing confidence,
and I’m very heartened by the number of ensembles that are working in Wales and
who have the willingness to perform Welsh music. I was talking recently to a
number of younger musicians starting out in their careers who want to perform
Welsh music. The more of that we get, the better, because I don’t think we’ve
had a Welsh identity for years. In the past, people have not wanted to be seen
as being Welsh and promoting their own culture; fortunately, that is changing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"> Royal Welsh
College of Music and Drama, Cardiff: 1.4.03</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; text-indent: -42.5pt;"> Edited by Chris Painter: 30.12.13</span></div>
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Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-81579280527619990612013-11-20T17:38:00.002+00:002019-10-10T12:21:47.362+01:00Creativity and the Sertraline Kid<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Since being prescribed Sertraline to help with my depression, one of the less unpleasant side effects of the drug has been the impact that it has had upon my urge to compose and how I now work.<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> This has forced me to consider the internal and external drivers that fuel my need to compose.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">Sertraline </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">is an </span>antidepressant<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> of the </span>selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> (SSRI) class and </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">is primarily prescribed for </span>major depressive disorder<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">s. In addition to its physical side effects there is a fair amount of anecdotal evidence of its effect upon the creative processes of its users.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">Since coming to the point where I felt that I had no choice but to face my depression and take steps to deal with it, I have noticed a marked change in my levels of creativity. Let me be clear at his point, I am not saying that I am less creative, it is simply that my impetus has changed and this has brought into sharp focus why I have to compose.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Every composer will have their own, very personal, reasons for feeling the need to compose although there is quite often a common thread running through them. Alun Hoddinott once told me that he believed that all composers had a flaw in their personality that made them compose; shyness, the inability to engage with people, loneliness, a need to create an alternate world, seeking immortality were all motivations that were cited with respect to a number of composers. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Depression too, as I well know, can be a significant stimulus to the creative mind with the building of another world in which to not only escape but also to express all those things that remain unsaid. At the very lowest point of my depression I wrote both my <a href="http://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter/sets/symphony-no-3-fire-in-the-snow" target="_blank">3rd Symphony</a> (my longest piece) and also <a href="http://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter/sets/furnace-of-colours" target="_blank">Furnace of Colours</a> (in my humble opinion, one of my best pieces) and remember fighting against self-doubt and being in floods of tears for most of the time I was writing them whilst being compelled to work intensively because I was able to escape from myself while writing.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">So, now that I've donned my outfit and climbed upon my horse to become the Sertraline Kid, what are my driving forces that make we want to indulge in this ridiculous and often thankless occupation?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Immortality plays no part in my motivation, I have little desire to write for posterity. I write primarily for my contemporaries and am interested in the interaction between me, the piece, the performers and the audience. Of course, that's not to say that I don't want my music to outlive me but it's not my driving force.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Also, fame plays no part in my thinking other than the fact that it can allow one to pursue one's craft with greater ease and provide financial security. In my experience, those who are driven by the desire for fame produce shallow, Emperor's New Clothes, music that might please the critics and pseuds but has no real substance nor a connection with performers or audience.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">As I have stated in previous blog posts, my motivation comes from the need to communicate and express my feelings, from a deep-seated need for approval and acceptance and from a profound loneliness. The irony of composition is that it allows me to escape my loneliness but I hate it for the enforced solitude that it brings when I'm working.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">I have spoken previously about my loneliness and it is the curse of my life. I constantly have a sense of the world going on without me when I'm writing and often resent the practical act of composition in that it cuts me off from real life. This, of course, is the paradox, in that composition is an escape from the world of which I long to be a part.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">The loneliness, whilst incredibly painful, is a powerful stimulus to work and fuels the creative process as the desire to reach out and communicate my feelings is extremely strong and I hope that through my music people will understand and empathise. </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 19.1875px;">Also, it is one of the few positive things that I am able to do that makes me feel that I have some control over my life. I am lucky in that "The Labrador" is very attached to</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 19.1875px;"> me and will sit with me for hours when I'm working and senses when I need company although her conversation is a little limited.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: small; line-height: 19.1875px;">I have a need to write for someone, in addition to the performers for whom I am writing as I hardly ever write a piece without having performers or a performance in mind, and, hopefully, to gain their approval. To once again quote Elmore Leonard - </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: small; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="background-color: white;">"</span><span style="background-color: white;"><i style="color: blue;">I have done nothing that wasn't for the love of, or to impress, a woman" </i>- a sentiment to which I wholeheartedly and unashamedly subscribe<i>.</i></span> I generally eschew pretentiousness but in this case, I do seriously refer to this as my Muse and everything I have written in recent years has been as a result of her inspiration.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: small; line-height: 19.1875px;">For me, my Muse is the single most important factor that stimulates my creativity; knowing that someone is interested in one's work is an important factor in the creative process but this is multiplied many times if one feels a connection of some sort - spiritual, intellectual or physical - with them. Also, for the shy, insecure, person it is a way to communicate one's feelings without ever saying them and risking rejection. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I cannot stress enough the importance, for me, of having someone who is interested in my work. It matters not if my work is ignored, ridiculed or even praised by the wider world as long as that one person approves of it and understands what lies behind it. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is p</span>ossibly a bit sad but we all need our various triggers and inspirations.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So, since starting on the Ser<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">traline I have lost the crutch that was the depression I have rediscovered the real instigators of my urge to write (they were always there but the depression shrouded them in a mist) and my working practices are more planned than intuitive.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Whilst Sertraline takes the edge off sadness and loneliness, they are still there and it also allows everyday emotions to come to the fore (rather than the empty, flat, darkness that depressive illness causes) so there is no perceivable change in my music merely in the way that I approach my work.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At this point I mount my trusty steed, Black Dog, wave my hand and shout "The Sertraline Tabs are on me!" before riding off into the sunset in search of the Black Note gang so that I can put them under a rest.</span></span></span> </span></div>
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Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-30549180757550829172013-09-08T15:37:00.000+01:002013-09-10T22:47:34.978+01:00 "Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind." (Johannes Brahms)<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many years ago, I was told, by an influential person in the Welsh musical world, that my music would never get anywhere as it was "too thought out" and didn't display the "white-hot heat of creativity." This was, so they said, because I produced neat scores and extensively planned my work during the pre-composition stage. Apparently, the person concerned believed that scores that were hastily written out, with errors in musical grammar and with no apparent pre-conceived structure were the mark of an inspired composer rather than that of a slip-shod, poorly trained and disorganised one.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Inspiration is an awakening, a quickening of all man's faculties, and it is manifested in all high artistic achievements."</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In contrast, a friend who headed up the human resources section for a major multinational company, told me that, regardless of how well qualified and intelligent, she would immediately rule out job applicants who submitted badly presented, untidy or incoherent curriculum vitae. Her reasoning was that, despite their qualifications and experience, the C.V. not only displayed an i</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ncapability</span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and lack of desire to present themselves well but also an inability to organise their thoughts and, most importantly, a disrespect for those to whom they were submitting their application. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the time I thought she was being rather harsh but, as time has gone on, I think she was absolutely correct. I have always believed that craftsmanship in composition is important; if one take's pride in one's work then one presents it to the best standard possible. To me, the whole point of being a creative artist is that one's inspiration and ideas are turned, via the technique that has been honed over years of study and practice, into a coherent work that expresses one's own personality or, dare I say it, spirituality.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> "I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well."</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">J.S. Bach</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In reality, everyone, bar the basest of beings, has inspiration and ideas; it is only the composer who can, or whom is driven to, translate these into cogent expressions of emotions or thoughts - music that doesn't do this is simply wallpaper.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span class="bqQuoteLink" style="line-height: 26px; text-align: left;">"Technique is the test of sincerity. If a thing isn't worth getting the technique to say, it is of inferior value."</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: italic; line-height: 26px;"><br style="text-align: left;" /></span><span class="bodybold" style="line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/ezra_pound.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="view author">Ezra Pound</a></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As well as taking pride in our craftsmanship it also serves a very practical purpose (in addition to presenting our work well and respecting those who will perform it) in that it is the foundation upon which we base our work. </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span class="bqQuoteLink" style="line-height: 26px; text-align: left;">"It's like when you want to make a house... the technique is very important."</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="bodybold" style="line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Cecilia Bartoli</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I once had a postgraduate composition student who wrote entirely from what one might refer to as "the white-heat of inspiration" and was seen, in some quarters, as very promising. She had no concept of technique whatsoever and, to make matters worse, relied upon the Sibelius programme to not only play back her music (she could not hear it in her head) but to tell her when instruments were out of range. She was unable to explain to me how she developed her ideas or structure, saying "it just comes to me". Then, one day, she became lost when half way through an extensive orchestral work and found it impossible to get started again as she couldn't work out how she had ended up where she was. As far as I'm aware, the piece was never completed.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="bqQuoteLink" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 26px; text-align: left;">"The more technique you have, the less you have to worry about it."</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 26px;"><i><br style="text-align: left;" /></i></span><span class="bodybold" style="line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Pablo Picasso</span><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those composers who rely entirely on inspiration and sometimes sneer at those of us who feel that the craft is as important if not more so, what will they do when faced with a deadline and have no inspiration?</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span class="bqQuoteLink" style="line-height: 26px; text-align: left;">"If technique is of no interest to a writer, I doubt that the writer is an artist."</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: italic; line-height: 26px;"><br style="text-align: left;" /></span><span class="bodybold" style="line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Marianne Moore</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When inspiration has left the building what is the composer to do? Ask the orchestra to come back next week when, hopefully, it will have returned? Apologise to the audience, give their money back and explain that inspiration is ephemeral and without it one is unable to compose? Of course not, the experienced composer applies his technique, or craftsmanship if you will, to the material that he has and develops it until it can be moulded into a structured piece of music. Technique, while remaining in the background, underpins everything that we do and without it we are building houses of straw. </span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The most perfect technique is that which is not noticed at all."</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is said that Brahms would write several canonic exercises every morning before breakfast just to free up his mind and to prepare for the working day ahead. Britten, too, had his established routine for composition and stuck to it rigidly. My friend, Alun Hoddinott, was a stickler for technique and would meticulously lay out his work, being fastidious in his choice of ink pen and paper and spending a great deal of time in the pre-composition phase. The music only went down on the page when he had it all worked out in his head. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Craftsmanship is all too often portrayed as an example of weakness, of a lack of originality, even as the refuge of the musical hack. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this musical world of the Emperor's New Clothes, where those who choose to dissent are castigated for not having the intellect to understand, there appears to be a theory that if music is liked and understood then it is somehow second-rate. There is an element of professional composer and sometimes critics, who intentionally cultivate the myth of the</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> enigmatic composer, compelled to write by unknown forces and who has a direct line to some ethereal entity from whence flows their inspiration. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>“You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.” </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While some modern-day composers look with disdain upon tradition and established forms and genres they should consider that we can never re-invent the wheel, we can merely hope to add a few more spokes to it at best. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am not, of course, saying that there is no place for inspiration but that inspiration alone is meaningless unless one has the technique to express one's idea in a way that communicates with others and also has a respect for the performers - the music should, at all times, be presented in the easiest way for the performers to do their job. I always feel very grateful if someone wants to perform my music and to that end will try to produce clear, clean scores and parts that take into account the practicalities of performance. Furthermore, when I get it wrong, I am prepared to make alterations and adjustments.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span class="bqQuoteLink" style="line-height: 26px; text-align: left;">"I never presumed that a technique of composition or an idea was so special that just using it would guarantee the quality of the music".</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Personally, I am more than happy if I am seen as a craftsman working in a tradition that stretches back for centuries and would actually see it as a compliment. Dare anyone say that </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Capability Brown,</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Benvenuto Cellini, Thomas Chippendale or Josiah Wedgewood were any less of an artist because they were consummate craftsmen? Do we write off the works of T.S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, Keats or Wordsworth because they either followed or expanded existing forms? If Michaelangelo, Epstein, Hepworth or Rodin hadn't learnt how to wield a hammer or to mould clay where would their inspiration have got them?</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Inspiration by all means but sculpt it by using a well developed technique and give it the respect that it deserves.</span></span></div>
Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-50355327709203043662013-08-20T19:09:00.002+01:002020-04-17T10:15:57.711+01:00If I weren't the way I am, I shouldn't write my symphonies. [Gustav Mahler] - PART FOUR<br />
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Following another prolonged absence, this time due to a period of ill health, I am returning to write probably the most difficult and carefully considered contribution to this personal journey.</span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">MY LIFE WITH THE BLACK DOG</span></u></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds."</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last year, after a long period of unexplained ill health, I was finally diagnosed with advanced Type 2 diabetes. Although it has done some permanent damage to my eyesight and nerve endings, the disease is manageable and, with care and daily medication, will not progress any further. It has, however, started a process that will, to a large extent, change how I live and think about life. As part of this process I have been forced to face up to and deal with another very long standing problem that I have kept hidden, out of shame, for a very long time. I have agonised about talking publicly about this for quite some time and have decided that not speaking about it is what makes it worse for me and for others.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>"</i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>When you're lost in those woods, it sometimes takes you a while to realize that you are lost. For the longest time, you can convince yourself that you've just wandered off the path, that you'll find your way back to the trailhead any moment now. Then night falls again and again, and you still have no idea where you are, and it's time to admit that you have bewildered yourself so far off the path that you don't even know from which direction the sun rises any more</i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 18px;">.<i>" </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, here it is. Along with the diabetes, I have now been diagnosed with clinical depression. Yes, DEPRESSION. I'll say it again, DEPRESSION, that illness that dare not speak its name. I have decided to speak out about it as it is an illness like any other and I've put up with it for far too long. Moreover, my mother suffered with depression for many years and it was made much worse by the shame that she felt and her inability to talk about it. In fact, her depression became so debilitating that the symptoms of the curable cancer that killed her were missed until it was too late.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“The sun stopped shining for me is all. The whole story is: I am sad. I am sad all the time and the sadness is so heavy that I can't get away from it. Not ever.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ever since I was a small boy I have worried inordinately about almost everything. This, coupled with crippling shyness and a severe stammer made me a solitary little boy who found it hard to mix whilst longing to belong. When others passed their days in normal youthful pursuits, I found solace and a world that I could cope with in books, poetry and music - all of which made me appear even more odd to my contemporaries and caused a great deal of bullying. I'm sure, dear reader, that you can imagine how a 14 year-old boy who reads and writes poetry is viewed by his peers!</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness."</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of course, it wasn't all bad; there were times when things were good. When I joined the BSC Brass Band, went into the sixth form at school and, most importantly, when I went to University, I had varying levels of feeling that I belonged. In fact, looking back, University was the happiest time of my life and I made good and life-lasting friends. Even in the good times, though, there was always something lurking in the background.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Looking back, it was when my Mum died in 1992 that the depression really started to take hold. Having been ill for some time with an unexplained illness which, as I've said, had been put down to her depression, Mum became bed-ridden just after Christmas of 1991 and wasn't diagnosed with cancer until the March. After two agonising weeks in hospital in Cardiff (with Dad and me at her bedside 24 hours a day) she passed away at 7am on the 21st April 1992, two months short of her 60th birthday, one month short of my 30th and less than five months before my already planned wedding. </span><br />
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I really should have sought help after this but life just rolled on like a juggernaut and I thought I was just being a wimp. I spent the next 17 years working from home and avoiding people as much as possible. I developed a morbid fear of using the telephone, something which largely persists today (thank God for online chat, email and texting) and was unable to answer the door to anyone, even friends on occasion - I still check through the window before answering the door today.</span></div>
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All of my adult life I have spoken of the Black Dog that periodically visits me and has, perversely, become like an old friend. I have also become very good at hiding it and appearing relatively happy while the world was crumbling inside me. I've often referred to this as wearing my clown's mask and I've become quite adept at hiding behind it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“If you are chronically down, it is a lifelong fight to keep from sinking ”</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">― Elizabeth Wurtzel, <i>Prozac Nation</i></span></div>
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</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">I've managed to get by for quite some time by being amiable, jovial, Chris in public and then collapsing into tears and despair when in private. It is all too easy to adopt a dual persona as the shame of having depression makes one want to bury it as deep as possible. Of course, this only makes matters worse as the "dark self" starts to hate the "bright" one and feels more of a failure for not having the guts to face up to it. Such is the insidious nature of depressive illness.</span><br />
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<i><span style="color: blue;">“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.”</span></i></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Serious, on-going, depression is debilitating, it sucks, vampire-like, the very life out of the sufferer, leaving a lethargic, direction-less, shell to drift through a half-world of mere existence where nothing ever feels good and the best that one can hope for is a brief respite where everything feels flat but the despair and crushing loneliness is kept at bay. Even then, one knows that it will not last and constantly fears the approach of the abyss and the inevitable plunge into the darkness.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“I waste at least an hour every day lying in bed. Then I waste time pacing. I waste time thinking. I waste time being quiet and not saying anything because I'm afraid I'll stutter.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">― Ned Vizzini, <i>It's Kind of a Funny Story</i></span></div>
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</span></span></span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">At my lowest points I began to sleep, involuntarily, during the day as my mind found the way to cope with the world was to shut it out. If left alone, I could easily "sleep" all day, conscious of what was going on around me but unable to rouse myself to a level of consciousness to be able to function. It actually became so bad that I had to stop driving for a while, which further cut me off from friends and activities, as I couldn't trust myself not to shut down when I was at the wheel. Fortunately, that has now passed and I'm as "safe" as I ever was.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“I didn't want to wake up. I was having a much better time asleep. And that's really sad. It was almost like a reverse nightmare, like when you wake up from a nightmare you're so relieved. I woke up into a nightmare.”</i></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The irony of this was that in the night-time I suffered from insomnia, another one of depression's weapons for breaking one's spirit. At the one time when, if one had the courage to talk to someone and was able to persuade oneself that they didn't mind, the sufferer needs a sympathetic ear and calming voice, everyone is asleep and one is left alone in the dark. For several years I spent most nights sat either in an armchair or in my kitchen (unless I had the luxury of having work to do) through the night, not being able to face the thought of lying in the dark while my mind raced through all my imperfections and failings and told me just how useless I am. Then, as daylight came, I would crawl to bed and not want to get up to face the day; scared of what the post might bring, scared of leaving the house, of facing work, of seeing people, basically scared of life.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“I don't want to see anyone. I lie in the bedroom with the curtains drawn and nothingness washing over me like a sluggish wave. Whatever is happening to me is my own fault. I have done something wrong, something so huge I can't even see it, something that's drowning me. I am inadequate and stupid, without worth. I might as well be dead.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Clinical depression is not simply feeling sad or "a bit down", it is much more complicated than that. Well-meaning friends (I have done this myself) will tell the sufferer to "cheer up" or "It's not that bad" partly because they do not understand and partly because they can't think of anything else to say or do and are increasingly desperate to help. Sadly, there is nothing that they can say or do, just be there and listen, even if it is for the umpteenth time, to the often incoherent ramblings of the depressed person - it really helps just to tell someone, no matter how many times one has told them before; depression is a regenerative enemy, it is not defeated simply by being talked about once.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“Others imply that they know what it is like to be depressed because they have gone through a divorce, lost a job, or broken up with someone. But these experiences carry with them feelings. Depression, instead, is flat, hollow, and unendurable. It is also tiresome. People cannot abide being around you when you are depressed. They might think that they ought to, and they might even try, but you know and they know that you are tedious beyond belief: you are irritable and paranoid and humourless and lifeless and critical and demanding and no reassurance is ever enough. You're frightened, and you're frightening, and you're "not at all like yourself but will be soon," but you know you won't.”</i></span></div>
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</i></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Everyone has worries, tragedies and problems in their lives, it's part of the human condition, but, for someone with depression it is different. If, under normal circumstances, one is sad, angry, hurt or lonely, it is a tangible feeling, with cause and effect, and there is the belief that it will pass; for the depressed person this is not so. There is no cause and effect, no light at the end of tunnel and no apparent route to healing or redemption.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is also very hard to explain the loneliness that one feels. Many people will say that they like solitude, myself included, but this is different. Solitude is a choice and one knows that there are people out there if one wishes to engage with them. For me, there is nothing better than working in solitude but knowing that people I care about are only a few steps away and will be glad to see me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Depressive loneliness is completely different to solitude. It cuts the victim off from sociable contact by convincing them that there is no one out there, that the people that they long to be with don't really want to connect with them, that they are so repulsive and boring that everyone wishes to keep away. The weight of this loneliness is unbearable and prevents the victim from doing anything to ameliorate it. Friends will suggest "keep your self busy", "find an interest" or "immerse yourself in your work" but the loneliness is all pervasive and, like a gas, expands to fill the void completely, allowing no space for thought or respite. At my worst moments I have found that trying to compose, the one thing I enjoyed doing more than anything, became impossible as all I could think of was that the world was turning without me, everyone was getting on with their lives and that my existence was irrelevant.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It sounds pathetic but the one overarching desire is for someone to say "You are special, you make a difference, my life would be empty without you", regardless of how loved someone is by one's own family there is a need for confirmation of one's validity as a human being from outside. Depressive loneliness is not about needing to be with people, I can feel utterly alone in a roomful of people, it is about the longing to be with people (or even one person) who want to be with you, values you, even depends upon you in some way. The desperate thing about depression is that these people are already there, and probably have been all along, but the illness doesn't allow one to accept it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“Depression is the most unpleasant thing I have ever experienced. . . . It is that absence of being able to envisage that you will ever be cheerful again. The absence of hope. That very deadened feeling, which is so very different from feeling sad. Sad hurts but it's a healthy feeling. It is a necessary thing to feel. Depression is very different.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The inability to express one's hopelessness and the numbing effect of the depression upon one's senses and feelings can manifest itself in several physical ways. In my case it was first in a terrible stammer, the inability to walk into a room where there were people whom I didn't know without wanting to throw up, the development of quite severe stress asthma and, I am ashamed to say, self harm. I'm afraid that cutting my forearm with a razor blade, scalpel or even the blade of a scissors became a way of externalising the pain that I was feeling whilst making me feel that I deserved to suffer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While on this subject I should say, too, that I have been VERY fortunate to have some compassionate family and friends who have come along at times when I may, ONLY may, have gone further and done something really stupid. It is so terribly sad that for some people, despite all the efforts of friends and family, they can only see one solution to the problem. True depression is such an evil, evil illness that it prevents the victim (yes, sufferers are victims) from thinking clearly and seeking the help that is there - unfortunately, no one can do this for them - unless and until a crisis point is reached and overcome.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“That's the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it's impossible to ever see the end.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Depression is VERY hard on friends and family and takes it's inevitable toll on relationships, thus making the depression worse. I know that I have been very trying to those around me for they experience a feeling of total helplessness as they are unable to make one "snap out of it" and not only have to watch one fall apart but also never know when and when not one will be able to function. There is nothing to be done except be there with reassurance and compassion until the sufferer can bring themselves to seek professional help - in my case it took the best part of 30 years to get to this point.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“Some friends don't understand this. They don't understand how desperate I am to have someone say, I love you and I support you just the way you are because you're wonderful just the way you are. They don't understand that I can't remember anyone ever saying that to me. I am so demanding and difficult for my friends because I want to crumble and fall apart before them so that they will love me even though I am no fun, lying in bed, crying all the time, not moving. Depression is all about If you loved me you would.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">― Elizabeth Wurtzel, <i>Prozac Nation</i></span></div>
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</i></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The need for reassurance is constant; to feel valued, loved and necessary. Even when told these things, the sufferer does not believe them; depression is constantly telling them that they are useless, pointless, unloved and unwanted, that everyone is embarrassed to be with them, ashamed of them, only spending time with them because they are too kind to say what they really think and walk away. Logic tells one that this is not true but depression is so strong that it swamps these thoughts and warps one's sense of reality.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“Choking with dry tears and raging, raging, raging at the absolute indifference of nature and the world to the death of love, the death of hope and the death of beauty, I remember sitting on the end of my bed, collecting these pills and capsules together and wondering why, why when I felt I had so much to offer, so much love, such outpourings of love and energy to spend on the world, I was incapable of being offered love, giving it or summoning the energy with which I knew I could transform myself and everything around me.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My sense of worthlessness and self-loathing will often prevent me from going in to have a meal at a pub or restaurant as I'm convinced that I'll be refused service (stupid but true) and as much as I love cinema, theatre and days out, I don't do these any more as I'm scared to do them on my own. I also have lost count of the number of interviews that I have missed simply because I was unable to walk into the building - not very good for career progression! Similarly, in my composition career, I've found it very difficult to network and to do PR for myself - I suppose one could argue that if I'd wanted it enough then I would have made myself do it, who knows? My GP told me to go back to the gym and I had a fantastic personal trainer but the depression won yet again as I felt that everyone was watching me and thinking "look at the state on him" - in reality, of course, they were probably too bothered about their own bodies to even notice mine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One's need to seek approval, praise and, indeed, love can affect one's responses to everyday events and random acts of kindness can take on a significance far greater than the good Samaritan intended. Likewise, simple slights, or even good-natured jokes, can become agonising heart wounding spears that take hours, days, weeks or even months to get over. I've lost count of the number of times that something fairly innocuous has been said to me which resulted, several hours later, in my crying for hours or sitting in my car or study over-analysing every word and nuance of the comment. The people around one tend to think that one is a good sport, a bit soppy, a little insecure (I have been called in the past, in a friendly and kind way, "Mr Paranoia" and "Insecuri-Bear"), very open (because of the continual need to explain oneself in the hope of being understood) but they don't see the trauma that goes on when no one is around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The feeling of failure, of having let people down, of having cheated one's way through life is always there as a background to daily life. I constantly think that I've merely fooled people into thinking that I can do this or that and am always waiting to be found out for the fraud that the illness keeps telling me that I am. Although constantly wishing and craving for praise and approval, when it comes I simply think "What do they know" or "I've fooled them", regardless of how experienced or distinguished the person may be. </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">“Depression on my left, Loneliness on my right. They don't need to show me their badges. I know these guys very well.”</span></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I think I've become quite good at controlling my emotions in front of most people. I've always been easily moved to tears (I am, actually, quite soppy and an incurable Romantic which makes matters worse) and sad thoughts, stories, music and films can reduce me to a blubbering fool. Even so, there are times when I just have to get away as soon as possible or simply avoid people as I know I'm going to break down.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“I didn’t want my picture taken because I was going to cry. I didn’t know why I was going to cry, but I knew that if anybody spoke to me or looked at me too closely the tears would fly out of my eyes and the sobs would fly out of my throat and I’d cry for a week. I could feel the tears brimming and sloshing in me like water in a glass that is unsteady and too full.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This, for me, is the other great evil of depressive illness. Even though I crave companionship, want to belong and have a deep-seated and morbid fear of loneliness, I find it VERY difficult to be with people and try to avoid, where I can, large gatherings or social events. Again, the illness makes one stand apart and hate oneself for doing so. </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“When you're surrounded by all these people, it can be lonelier than when you're by yourself. You can be in a huge crowd, but if you don't feel like you can trust anyone or talk to anybody, you feel like you're really alone.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The depression made me retreat further and further inside myself and, luckily, I found that composition was an outlet through which I could not only express my emotions but could also engage with people without making myself vulnerable. If I felt that they couldn't love me, perhaps they could love the music instead and the image that I presented through it. Even though I hate being on my own and sometimes hate composition for the enforced solitude that it causes, I felt safe on my own where no one could upset me. It was comforting to know that I didn't have to put on the mask and be constantly afraid of letting my guard down and either embarrassing myself or upsetting someone.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“I'll never forget how the depression and loneliness felt good and bad at the same time. Still does.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">― Henry Rollins, <i>The Portable Henry Rollin</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Music has become my life and although I'll joke about it in public (too embarrassed to let anyone other than a few very empathetic friends see just how important it is to me) it is central to my very existence and gives me both purpose and direction. I can honestly say, without wishing to be melodramatic, that without music (or possibly some other creative outlet) I would not be here now.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“It's not all bad. Heightened self-consciousness, apartness, an inability to join in, physical shame and self-loathing—they are not all bad. Those devils have been my angels. Without them I would never have disappeared into language, literature, the mind, laughter and all the mad intensities that made and unmade me.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">If anyone wants to see inside my soul and to know who I really am, go no further than listening to my music, it is all in there. There is, of course, an element of attention seeking and narcissism too, as the American writer Elmore Leonard once said - "</span><span style="background-color: white;"><i style="color: blue;">I have done nothing that wasn't for the love of, or to impress, a woman" </i>- I can subscribe wholeheartedly to that!</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter" target="_blank">Recordings of some of my music</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The good, working class, Port Talbot boy inside me hates the pretentious talk that is sometimes uttered by artists in all genres and I find it hard to talk like this publicly but here, once and only, I can state categorically that my music speaks for me and is drawn, sometimes agonisingly, from my soul - that is cringingly nauseating but it is the truth.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>“Perfume was first created to mask the stench of foul and offensive odours...</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>What then was music created for?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>― </i>Emilie Autumn<i>, The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, in a perverse way, depression has been my friend as well as my enemy. It has made me what I am and given me a mission in life. Again, one of the great problems in dealing with depression and initially seeking help is that it becomes one's closest friend, the rock upon which one builds one's life. It's very scary to face the prospect of living without it no matter how much distress it has caused.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“Because that’s the thing about depression. When I feel it deeply, I don’t want to let it go. It becomes a comfort. I want to cloak myself under its heavy weight and breathe it into my lungs. I want to nurture it, grow it, cultivate it. It’s mine. I want to check out with it, drift asleep wrapped in its arms and not wake up for a long, long time.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“In a strange way, I had fallen in love with my depression. Dr. Sterling was right about that. I loved it because I thought it was all I had. I thought depression was the part of my character that made me worthwhile. I thought so little of myself, felt that I had such scant offerings to give to the world, that the one thing that justified my existence at all was my agony.”</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWQWqFKFEWC9OydvavWs9SkV0BablsWhoDM1ls7-ig393yprCHvHUZdTLL4TR4GRx5VGxlRaa3qu_c5l7T1QaMel-izR_e8WLcKtZRVi-uOCkrdb-rtPsmLS_Mdf51ppBsbwCREeoFM5cD/s1600/black-dog-depression-16-12-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWQWqFKFEWC9OydvavWs9SkV0BablsWhoDM1ls7-ig393yprCHvHUZdTLL4TR4GRx5VGxlRaa3qu_c5l7T1QaMel-izR_e8WLcKtZRVi-uOCkrdb-rtPsmLS_Mdf51ppBsbwCREeoFM5cD/s400/black-dog-depression-16-12-10.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: left;">After living with the Black Dog for almost 30 years it finally took a crisis in my life, and the onset of severe symptoms of the as yet undiagnosed diabetes, to make me seek help. When I realised that my health was actually deteriorating and it wasn't simply a case of my feeling "under the weather" I had to make myself go to the GP (something I've never liked doing). I decided that I had to go and, to stop myself chickening out as I normally did, wrote all my symptoms down and completely filled TWO sheets of A4 paper. Extremely fortunately for me, there was a new, recently qualified, GP who, unlike my previous one, took my symptoms seriously and immediately sent me for a barrage of tests. </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Upon my return a week later I was told that I had advanced Type 2 diabetes and, without my saying anything more, that the GP was fairly certain that I had clinical depression. A few simple tests later he was sure of it and we discussed how I felt and the way forward. I was initially relieved, even euphoric, until I thought that if my old GP hadn't just told me that I was just "feeling down" and that my lethargy and nerve pain were just through lack of sleep then I might have avoided the worst of this. I was a little angry about this but never mind, we got there in the end and in time to prevent much permanent damage.</span></span><br />
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</span></span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">The GP started me on a course of anti-depressants and said that he recommended counselling but that the NHS counsellors were booked up for months in advance and could only offer me one half hour slot anyway. The other option was to go private but I decided against this. I am VERY lucky to have good friends both in work and outside and they have been a tremendous source of strength (if you are reading this, you know who you are!). </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>“Listen to the people who love you. Believe that they are worth living for even when you don't believe it. Seek out the memories depression takes away and project them into the future. Be brave; be strong; take your pills. Exercise because it's good for you even if every step weighs a thousand pounds. Eat when food itself disgusts you. Reason with yourself when you have lost your reason.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am now eight months into my journey back from the "Isle of the Dead" and although it is a very slow progression I am slowly getting there. I have had to have my medication doubled recently (although it is still some way off the maximum dose) and it does interfere with the creative process - I sometimes have to choose between writing and taking my medication - but I can function much better for most of the time. The problem now is adjusting to the ups and downs of life and recognising when I am having normal feelings or when the Black Dog is biting at my heels. I am also trying, though not always succeeding, not too look back at things that I cannot change or relive and to move forward, that is not easy.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"<span style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start;">Into my heart an air that kills</span></i></span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start;"> From yon far country blows:</span><br style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start;" /><span style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start;">What are those blue remembered hills,</span><br style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start;" /><span style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start;"> What spires, what farms are those?</span><br style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start;" /><br style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start;" /><span style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start;">That is the land of lost content,</span><br style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start;" /><span style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start;"> I see it shining plain,</span><br style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start;" /><span style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start;">The happy highways where I went</span><br style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start;" /><span style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start;"> And cannot come again."</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;">I have had much help along the way from friends and family and have been touched by the understanding and compassion shown by many people. In addition to the medication, it is important to have something to focus on and I have been fortunate to have found this in my reborn interest in brass banding. I play with both TATA Brass Band [Port Talbot] and RAF St Athan Voluntary Band and both the social interaction and the absorption in the music has helped me to fill my free time and to keep my mind occupied. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;">It's not all plain sailing and there are bad, black, days as well as good. I find the night-time very difficult, that's when the loneliness kicks in and the need to talk to someone is overwhelming - I spend a lot of time on social media but am trying to wean myself off it as I feel the need to bare my soul late at night and I'm sure that people are getting sick of it. Also, I'm tired of sitting for hour after hour watching names pop up on the chat list and waiting for someone to talk to me as I'm too scared to start up a conversation - pathetic. I still get occasional days when I stare into the abyss but at least now I recognise why and can deal with it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;">I have now been diagnosed with sleep apnoea and have to wear a mask when I sleep. I turns out that untreated sleep apnoea can, amongst other things, cause Type 2 diabetes which, in turn, can cause or exacerbate depression. In view of this I have put my illnesses together and given them the name "Trevor" (an old Uni joke when we couldn't think of someone or something's name) as I figure that giving the illness a persona will make it easier to deal with. Trevor and I are moving along slowly and I'm learning to deal with everything by breaking it down into small steps and not beating myself up when I can't do things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;">I hope that others who are afflicted with this vile illness will feel able to talk about it and will find the same support and compassion that I have. No one should be afraid to seek professional help - it is imperative that they do - as depression is an illness like any other, there should be no stigma attached to it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;">As for me, I hope to get Trevor permanently under control and move on with the rest of my life. It's not going to be easy but I have to do it. I hope that eventually the only Black Dog in my life will be Ceri, my Black Labrador, who loves me unconditionally and who has comforted me through many a long, lonely night.</span></div>
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<tr><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;</i></span></td><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4974600177885718683" name="111"></a></i></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Am an attendant lord, one that will do</i></span></td><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4974600177885718683" name="112"></a></i></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>To swell a progress, start a scene or two,</i></span></td><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4974600177885718683" name="113"></a></i></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,</i></span></td><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4974600177885718683" name="114"></a></i></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Deferential, glad to be of use,</i></span></td><td style="text-align: right;" valign="TOP"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> </i></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Politic, cautious, and meticulous;</i></span></td><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4974600177885718683" name="116"></a></i></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;</i></span></td><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4974600177885718683" name="117"></a></i></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—</i></span></td><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4974600177885718683" name="118"></a></i></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Almost, at times, the Fool.</i></span><br />
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<tr><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I grow old … I grow old …</i></span></td><td style="text-align: right;" valign="TOP"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> </i></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.</i></span><br />
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<tr><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?</i></span><br />
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<tr><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.</i></span></td><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4974600177885718683" name="123"></a></i></span></td></tr>
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</i></span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.</i></span><br />
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<tr><td><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I do not think that they will sing to me.</i><br />
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T.S. Eliot<i> - The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock</i></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JAO3QTU4PzY?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe><br />Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-47563976947629253082012-08-10T14:19:00.001+01:002013-09-01T09:38:07.951+01:00IMAGES IN THE MIST [PHANTASIE FOR STRING QUARTET]<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em;">Premiered by the Richards Quartet [Gwen Richards, Emilie Godden, Laura Sinnerton, Jessica Feaver], to whom it is dedicated - St Augustine's Church, Penarth on 17th June 2012</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PROGRAMME NOTE:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When first conceiving a new work, I always feel as if the music is lost deep in a mist and I am only allowed fleeting glimpses of it. As time passes, if I'm fortunate, this mist lessens and I am able to see the overall outline of the composition even though the details are still shrouded in the mist and tantalisingly just out of reach. Hopefully, as the work progresses, more and more of the composition becomes clear and many long hours of solitude will bring them out of the mist and on to the score. Even so, it is very rarely the case that the completed composition entirely encompasses the material that I have been endevouring to grasp. There are only three works, "Invisible Cities", "The Spring of Vision" and "The Furnace of Colours" where I feel that I have successfully dispelled the mist and have come closest to attaining my initial ideas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As someone who suffers badly from insomnia, when I do sleep my dreams invariably involve attempts to escape from dark, unknown, places or situations; being hopelessly lost and searching, in panic, for familiar faces and places or, often most disturbing of all, being involved in a quest, together with friends and acquaintances from my waking life, to find some, often undefined, lost object. I am convinced that this is intrinsically linked to my conscious mind's attempts to grasp these musical ideas from the fog that clouds my brain. I have previously attempted to describe this in my orchestral work, "Forest of Dreams" and the use of fragments of ideas, their repetition and development is central to my compositional technique.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The great fear, of course, is that one day this mist will refuse to give up its secrets and that the compositional journey will be at an end. Composers are not exactly only as good as their last composition but there is no guarantee that the next composition will come; the last composition could always be the final composition. I have been through fallow periods (one lasting ten years) when nothing meaningful would come from this mist and I, like all composers, live with the fear that I have already written my last work. The joy and the gratitude that someone has commissioned a new work are always tempered with the responsibility to produce a work that justifies both the trust that the commissioners have placed in the composer and the talents of the performers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With all this in mind, I have endeavoured in this piece to give an idea of the presentation, repetition, juxtaposition and development of disparate ideas which swirl in the compositional mist as a series of episodes in the manner of the old English Phantasie or Fancy (a popular instrumental form prior to the Stuart period) where different sections, in varying tempi and style, are juxtaposed and repeated with the motifs being slightly developed with each repetition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whilst there is no overt programme to the work (there may well be a subconscious one) - the listener is welcome to imagine and work out their own if they wish - the main idea behind the composition is the expression of mood and emotion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Schoenberg's words:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em;"><i>Form in music serves to bring about comprehensibility through memorability. Evenness, regularity, symmetry, subdivision repetition, unity, relationship in rhythm and harmony and even logic- none of these elements produces or even contributes to beauty. But all of them contribute to an organization which makes the presentation of the musical idea intelligible. The language in which musical ideas are expressed in tones parallels the language which expresses feelings or thoughts in words, in that its vocabulary must be proportionate to the intellect which it addresses, and in that the aforementioned elements of its organization function like the rhyme, the rhythm, the metre, and the subdivision into strophes, sentences, paragraphs, chapters, etc. in poetry and prose.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Let me say at once that I am more inclined - unconsciously, for sure, and often even consciously- to blur motives, a tendency that will certainly meet with the approval of those who feel in music 'life on several levels' and who therefore prefer to hear a kind of 'counterpoint' between motive and phrase: a complimentary opposition.</i> </span></div>
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Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-59370245939705163202012-06-08T10:21:00.000+01:002013-09-01T09:48:04.194+01:00If I weren't the way I am, I shouldn't write my symphonies. [Gustav Mahler] - PART THREE<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, dear reader (if anyone does read this), I owe you an apology. For very personal reasons, which I won't go into here, it has been over four months since my last post and whilst I wanted to increase your anticipation I feel that I have neglected you for too long.</span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">LEAVING SCHOOL AND GOING TO UNIVERSITY</span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the Summer of 1981 I finally finished school, with mixed feelings I have to say. I would certainly miss my friends and a number of the teachers and had, for the most part, enjoyed the Sixth Form but there were always dark shadows too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For a number of years I had been bullied, sometimes with the knowledge and even participation of some teachers, for being different, for being too emotional, because of my mother's job as a journalist or just for any spurious reason that the bullies could find. Once one is seen as a victim then bullies don't need a reason, one is just fair game. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was brought up to always try to do the right thing, to stand up for what one believes is right, to respect and protect girls and to always follow ones conscience. My Dad is a great fan of the films of the 30' s and 40's and I grew up on a diet of musicals, romances and war films with Fred Astaire (I'm still in love with Ginger Rogers - my perfect girl), Gene Kelly, Ronald Coleman, John Mills, Jack Hawkins and Cary Grant as my idols. (For our younger readers, ask your parents to explain who these screen greats were). I firmly believed that doing the right thing was the only choice, that the good guy ALWAYS got the girl (even if the girl hated him to start with) and that the hero, even if only posthumously, always had his reward. It's taken 40 years of hard knocks to dent that once unshakeable faith. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, the worse thing about bullying is not the beatings nor the verbal abuse, not even the constant fear of what they might do next, it is the shame and self-loathing. I was ashamed when I saw the pity in the eyes of those very girls whom I wanted to impress (so important at that age), ashamed at, in my mind, having something wrong with me that made the bullies single me out, ashamed that I wasn't stronger than them. My self-loathing manifested itself in cutting and other forms of self-harming. I kept a razor blade inside a pencil eraser and when things got too much I would sit in a practice room and cut my right forearm until the pain outweighed the inner pain of the bullying. I well remember on one occasion being set up to take the blame for something by the bullies during an art class. The teacher lost his temper and, grabbing me forcefully by the right forearm, threw me out of the class. The strength of his grasp opened the wounds on my arm and my white shirt was quickly soaked in blood - his shock and fear (of being reported) saved me from a beating but I had to run home in order to wash my shirt so that my parents wouldn't find out what had happened.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until now, dear reader, only one other person in the world knew about this but I have sworn to be honest in these posts and if you are taking the trouble to read my ramblings then the very least I can do is to share everything with you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bullying and the cutting went on for years and have left me with scars, both emotionally and physically. I still find it very difficult to walk into rooms where there are other people if I am on my own and often will make the effort to go to a function (sometimes where I am the reason for the function) only to turn away at the last moment or sit outside in my car until everyone has gone. I find that I constantly crave praise and approval but, when I get it, I don't believe it is genuine. Worst of all, looking back with hindsight, I now realise that there have been occasions when, thinking that it was just a bit of banter or practical jokes, I may well have been a party, whether actively or passively, to bullying. If this is the case then I am truly ashamed and sorry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rest of the Summer after leaving school was a mixture of trepidation and excitement. First of all, I didn't get the required grades to get in to University College Cardiff and had to wait for a decision. After a week's wait I rang the departmental secretary, Mrs Chapple, and she told me that Professor Hoddinott had decided to waive the grade requirement and that I had a place on the B.Mus course - I was overjoyed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Mum really didn't want me to leave home but still pushed me to go to Cardiff as she knew it was the right thing for me to do. We had always been close and she was overly protective of me; mainly, I think, as a compensation for her own poor relationship with her own mother. I deeply resented the constant attention at the time but the passing years, especially since her early death, have made me understand why she was as she was. While at university I had to ring home morning and evening every day and did so religiously, ever mindful of my mother's fragile health and what worry might do to her heart condition. It prompted some wag to write above the public phone in the music department "CP phone home" in parody of the then new E.T. film.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arriving in Cardiff was tremendously exciting - only 30 odd miles down the road from Port Talbot but a whole new world. I had lodgings in Whitchurch (about 4 miles from the Uni) with a very kind lady called Cynthia Torres. Cynthia was a widow whose son had not long married and left home and she spoilt me rotten. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On my second day in Cardiff (such was my excitement that I had arrived a day early) I arrived at the Department of Music for my interview with Professor Hoddinott. Whilst waiting my turn I started to meet the other "freshers" and began to realise that this would be a completely different experience to what had gone before. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have dealt at length with my relationship with Alun Hoddinott so I won't repeat myself here. My personal tribute to this remarkable man who made such an impact upon my life, my aspirations, my thoughts on music and my compositional career, and who was such a good friend and support to me, can be read at <a href="http://www.orianapublications.co.uk/alun_hoddinott_tribute.pdf">http://www.orianapublications.co.uk/alun_hoddinott_tribute.pdf</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Life changed dramatically for me at Cardiff and my horizons widened considerably. I instantly went from being a big fish in a small pond to a minnow in a vast ocean. Every day I became aware of how little I knew and how much there was to learn. The course at Cardiff was a fairly strict academic one but with much practical music making (some of it compulsory) and the first year was tough. It was great to be amongst other musicians and to listen to discussions on topics I knew nothing about and then to rush to the library to find out more so that I didn't look too stupid the next time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The social life was great too although living so far out and having a landlady did somewhat curtail my nocturnal behaviour. I made great friends during this time - I had intended to name them but thought that this was unfair as there are so many people that I'd leave out for reasons of space. Suffice to say that there was a fantastic atmosphere and camaraderie and I can honestly say that the six years that I spent at UCC were the best years of my life and I often long to go back to them. </span><br />
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Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-56887512371345437632012-01-20T07:50:00.001+00:002023-06-07T23:17:45.672+01:00If I weren't the way I am, I shouldn't write my symphonies. [Gustav Mahler] - PART TWO<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Music was an important part of the curriculum when I was in school and participation was not only encouraged but was, quite often, mandatory. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First of all, of course, there was school assembly with, in Central Junior School, communal hymn singing (C of E naturally with other denominations being allowed to sit in a classroom in silent contemplation if they objected - multiculturalism wasn't in the school's vocabulary at this time), the singing of the Lord's Prayer in both English and Welsh and unaccompanied <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglican_chant" target="_blank">chants</a> of psalms and canticles. In addition, every Friday morning one class either had to recite, from memory, a passage from the Bible or provide a musical performance. This was greatly relaxed in Dyffryn Comprehensive where assembly consisted of two hymns, the Lord's Prayer (four days in English and only one day in Welsh), an address from the headmaster or one of his deputies and a Bible or "inspirational" reading from one of the Sixth formers. These assemblies were accompanied by the school brass ensemble.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once every week in Central Junior School the 4 foot square (that's 1.2 metres square for the younger readers amongst us!) loudspeaker was ceremoniously carried to the front of the classroom and plugged into the school's relay system amidst murmurings of anticipation from the class. I'm not sure why this speaker was so big as the actual speaker was only about 1 foot (30cm) across and the rest of it was cheap plywood. Anyway, it was seen as an unofficial honour to be one of the two pupils chosen to carry the source of our forthcoming entertainment to the teacher's desk (they still had the old fashioned raised writing desks that meant they towered above us) and place it on it's stand. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the speaker was installed and plugged in, we'd then be told to take our "<a href="http://www.broadcastforschools.co.uk/site/Time_and_Tune" target="_blank">Time and Tune</a>" books (a series that is still running on the BBC) from our desks and open to "such and such" a page (following on from the previous week's episode). Silence would then fall over the class as the appointed time approached. The songs contained within the books had been practised earlier in the week and at various points during the programme we sang these songs along with the narrator. To further reinforce and expand upon the books, our teachers also set drawing, essay and comprehension tests based on the stories.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition to class singing and community singing (sometimes in four-part harmony) there was also instrumental music. In our first year of junior school every pupil was expected to buy a recorder (the school sold these, as an extra source of income I suspect) and once a week we had class lessons in playing it. Each class would give a performance once each term before the rest of the school - I'm glad that I can't remember what that sounded like! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next step was usually to learn the violin but, unfortunately for me, someone had the bright idea that as ukeleles were so cheap it would be better to teach this as a class project rather than allow selected interested individuals to learn the more expensive violin (I suspect a teacher had a mate who had a load of ukeleles to get rid of as, once again, the school sold us the ukeleles). So, my ambition to learn the violin was thwarted and I ended up as part of a large group of would-be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Formby" target="_blank">George Formby</a>s with "<a href="http://youtu.be/L_aNZXfKGLk" target="_blank">my little ukelele in my hand</a>." After a few weeks "tuition" we were formed into a band and with only a few chords (I only ever learnt one!) we gave performances as a demonic strumming backing group to a teacher who could play the guitar and was the star of the show (and had sold us the ukeleles). It has left me deeply scarred (or is that scared?) and with a lifelong fear and hatred of the ukelele!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we moved up to comprehensive school, with the exception of school assembly, mandatory communal music making stopped. There was a wider range of options for instrumental tuition with the provision of specialist peripatetic tutors (free of charge) and the free provision of school instruments - how lucky we were. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't say why but I decided that I wanted to learn the trumpet (divine guidance perhaps!) and I went along to see the peripatetic brass tutor, one Mr Walter White. Walter was a lovely man and a very encouraging teacher. As well as individual lessons, which were always longer than they should have been, Walter also organised a brass ensemble and encouraged us to get involved in both the West Glamorgan Brass Band set up (lessons and ensembles at Neath Technical College on Saturday mornings), West Glamorgan Youth Orchestra (in Swansea on Friday evenings) and our local brass bands.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Outside school there was also a varied diet of music making. I had been, since about 8 or 9, a member of <a href="http://www.st-theodore.org/saint-theodores-church/" target="_blank">St Theodore's Church</a> choir, singing for both Sung Eucharist and Evensong on Sundays and also rehearsing on a Thursday evening. From my early teenage years I became an altar boy and helped to serve communion and, later on, to carry the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurible" target="_blank">thurible</a> and the processional cross. In addition to Sunday services, I had to take part in a weekly early communion service at 6.30am on Thursday. During this service, in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_chapel" target="_blank">Lady Chapel</a>, the vicar, Mr Bowen (whose wife had taught my mother in school) and I would prepare the emergency communion that was kept there for the deliverance of last rites and serve communion to any parishioners who attended. For months on end there was just the vicar and myself until one morning a parishioner did turn up for communion, throwing us into panic as neither of us could remember the complete unsung Eucharist!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even though my faith is no longer strong (I waver from believing that there must be a God to thinking that it is all just a fairy-tale to protect us from the cold, dark, world) and I do not attend church, I only have to hear the music to remember all the words of the <a href="http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/system/files/SUNGEUCHARIST.pdf" target="_blank">Eucharist</a> and they start to have meaning for me once more. Similarly, I am always very disappointed and annoyed if I happen to be in a church and the Eucharist is spoken rather than sung.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As well as at church I sang, for a little while, with the <a href="http://www.cymric-choir.co.uk/index.htm" target="_blank">Port Talbot Cymric Male Choir</a> (one of the oldest in Wales) under the late Roger Chilcott.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As already mentioned in Part One of my version of Homer's Odyssey, the main outlet for my extra-curriculum music making was the BSC (Port Talbot) Brass Band. There were two rehearsals a week as well as junior band and it was great fun. Here come two more influential figures - Terry Sheriff and Evan Richards. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Terry was Principal Cornet of the band and was the most beautiful player I have ever heard. He ruled the cornet section and was quick to jump on mistakes. He was also a fun-loving character and was great with the youngsters in the band. Terry also took the junior band and would give us cornet lessons, unpaid, in his spare time. Tragically, Terry was killed, aged only 23, in an accident in the steelworks. Having just qualified as a welder, Terry was killed when a welding pit filled with gas which then ignited. The fire extinguishers hadn't been checked and were empty and poor Terry was so badly burned that, despite being rushed to Chepstow's specialist burns unit, he died a few days later. This shook the band to its core and things were never the same again and thus began a long, slow decline.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Evan Richards, from Cwmparc in the Rhondda, was the band's conductor and was well known in South Wales as a brass band trainer. I used to have lessons with Evan after rehearsals and he was very patient and kind. He was a good and knowledgeable conductor and the band started to make serious improvements under him. It was his unfair sacking (due to band politics) that made me leave the band and I have only recently returned, almost 27 years later. Evan died in 2011, aged 90, and was mourned by hundreds, possibly thousands of brass players who had benefited from his tuition and kindness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back in school, moderate success at 'O' level led to the Sixth Form. This was a much more relaxed affair than before. On the very first day we were gathered together and the headmaster announced that corporal punishment did not apply to Sixth Formers - if we transgressed then the only recourse was expulsion (I'd take that any day over being beaten with a stick or bat!) - but we were expected to take on prefect duties and patrol the school during breaks and at lunchtime.</span><br />
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It was a time that was filled with opportunity and excitement. Not only were we starting new courses but there was now spare time for our own projects, playing sports and sitting in the Common Room playing cards and talking to girls! I decided on courses in Pure Maths, Applied Maths and Physics and, at the start, was full of enthusiasm. Sadly, as time went on, the maths courses became more and more difficult and the teaching less and less illuminating and I spent more and more time playing cards in the Common Room (I've never been very good at talking to girls) or slipping over to the BSC Sports Club (just over the main road) where we drank beer (they didn't care that we were under age and in school uniform) and played snooker. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Physics was a different matter. Mr Williams, our Head of Physics, was an extremely entertaining and interesting teacher and his classes were never skipped. He was full of stories and we loved to hear his tales about when he had been part of the team that had developed radar during the war and his fascinating asides when discussing various topics during the course.<br /><br />As part of the Sixth Form we were expected to take part in the school's annual Gilbert & Sullivan performance and also various concerts throughout the year. As a trumpet player I was fortunate to play in the band rather than have to sing or act but, when returning to study 'A' level music I was told that I was expected to take part on stage. Thus, I made my one and only appearance beneath the Proscenium Arch as the Duke of Dunstable in "Patience"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have to admit that I never thought I could do it but, as part of the deal with the headmaster which allowed me to return to school for another year to get my 'A' level, I had no choice but to take part. I have to say that it was a fabulous experience and not only did I manage to learn all the dialogue and songs, I got through six performances and even managed to ad lib for five minutes (without a single stammer) when someone forgot to send on the chorus! I love G&S (more people are now appalled!) and have always meant to get involved in an amateur society but it's never happened. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>In Part Three I shall finally get to University College Cardiff and talk about the fantastic musical journey there, the interesting people that I met, the friends that I made, some of the not so good things and, of course, Alun Hoddinott.</i></span><br />
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Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-61739968054449181042012-01-15T19:42:00.000+00:002013-09-01T09:51:31.439+01:00If I weren't the way I am, I shouldn't write my symphonies. [Gustav Mahler] - PART ONE<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK, let's get this out of the way right at the start - I am not a writer nor do I pretend to be. I have turned to expressing my thoughts as prose after almost thirty years of believing that I was incapable of writing thanks to a university lecturer who told me so at every opportunity. I now realise, far too late, that the only way he could make himself feel superior was to make his students feel totally inadequate. Anyway, there it is, my writing style may be a little quirky but will hopefully improve as we travel together on this journey. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I thought, as a first post, it might be an idea to give a sketch of my early background as this may be relevant to later posts and explain some of my motivations, weaknesses and ghosts.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southwest/sites/local_history/pages/beryl_richards_60s.shtml" target="_blank">Port Talbot in the 1960's</a> - Beryl Richards remembers....</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southwest/sites/local_history/pages/sr_jones.shtml" target="_blank">A Brief History of Port Talbot</a></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/55937132080/" target="_blank">Port Talbot Facebook page with over 5000 photographs</a></span><br />
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<u><b>WHERE IT ALL BEGAN</b></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was born at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Talbot" target="_blank">Port Talbot</a> at an early age, the son of Ron (steelworker) and Caroline (journalist) Painter and was the first person in our family to be born in hospital rather than at home. We lived with my maternal grandparents in the house that my grandfather and my mother had been born in and that my great-grandfather, Thomas Owen David (poet, composer, brass bandsman and steelworker) had purchased from new. I remember very little of our time there (I believe it was difficult as my grandmother - much more about her later - was not an easy woman to live with and took an instant dislike to my father) as we moved to our own house (next door but one!) when I was around 3 or 4 - I am having to guess some of these dates as my Mum has now been dead for 20 years and it upsets my Dad to talk about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My mother had a very difficult pregnancy and was advised, more than once, to have a termination (not a straightforward matter in those days) as the doctors were concerned about the strain upon her heart. She steadfastly refused and consequently was confined to bed for months. To pass the time, she listened to records from the local <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_library" target="_blank">Carnegie library</a> but they only had one set of records - the symphonies of Shostakovich - and she listened to these over and over again. I'm not sure about the power of hearing things in the womb but I'm told that after I was born the easiest way to stop me crying was to put on a Shostakovich recording. I have a lifelong love of his symphonies and often turn to them in times of darkness - if the "Leningrad" symphony goes on in our house then everyone knows things are bad! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, my mother's determination guaranteed my existence and, one may argue, drew me to music but it did have far reaching consequences. My mother's health never really recovered (she was left with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachycardia" target="_blank">tachycardia</a> which plagued her all her life) and my parents were told that I was to remain an only child (I've spent my life wishing I had a younger brother and sister, I particularly wanted a sister but can't say why). Also, I was a very sickly child (until I approached my teenage years) with terrible asthma, <a href="http://www.eczema.org/" target="_blank">eczema</a> and joint problems (having callipers fitted briefly to straighten my legs).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite the health problems and the other strictures of day-to-day life in post-War Britain I had a a fairly privileged working class upbringing with, to my eyes, a loving family around me. My Mum and Dad adored each other and doted on me whilst I had my Granny and Grampa David next-door-but-one and my Granny and Grampa Painter at the other end of the street (when I was born they moved from <a href="http://www.walesdirectory.co.uk/Towns/Caerau.htm" target="_blank">Caerau</a> in the <a href="http://www.diggingupthepast.org.uk/llynficollieries.html" target="_blank">Llynfi Valley</a>, where my grandfather had been a <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/frank/wales.shtm" target="_blank">coal miner</a>, working, amongst others, in the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/coalhouse/sites/ugc/pages/andrewjames.shtml" target="_blank">Caerau Colliery</a>, and bought their first house, a cottage with a garden, the first time they had ever had a garden). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think I'll write much more about my grandparents at a later date as I think they deserve a post all to themselves. I will say that both my grandfather's have been a great influence on my life and although they've both been dead for more than 35 years I still miss them. </span><br />
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I think now is a good time, however, to tell you more about my Mum and Dad.</span><br />
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<b><u>MY MUM</u></b></span><br />
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My Mum was born Caroline Miriam David and had a very hard childhood. My grandfather, who I'm very alike in both looks, build and character, worshipped her but my grandmother had no time for her at all. No one ever quite worked out what my grandmother's problem was but her siblings (there were six of them, divided between South Wales and the West Country as my great-grandfather was a sea captain who sailed between the two and often relocated his family on either side depending upon where his ship was based at the time) told me that she had always been difficult and spoilt being the second child and the first girl.</span><br />
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The David family home was a 3 bedroom terraced working man's house in a fairly poor state of repair but it must have been the only house in the area to have had a cook and a lady's maid! My grandfather worked himself towards an early grave to pay for the servants that she thought she deserved. When my grandfather's health declined to the point where he could not earn as much through constant overtime, the servants left and my Mum had to take over the cooking and cleaning - she was nine! </span><br />
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Life was tough and my grandmother, who had an addictive personality, was often drunk and abusive. (<i>I've made a pact with myself to be open in this blog so it'll be warts and all</i>). My Mum told me towards the end of her life of her recollection of coming home from school one day to find my grandfather (next to my Dad, the gentlest man I have ever known) lying on the floor, crying, with my grandmother repeatedly kicking him - even in those extreme circumstances he couldn't bring himself to hit or even restrain a woman and just lay there whilst she lashed out. In spite of this, my mother got through school, passed her commercial exams (shorthand, accounts etc) and, after a few secretarial jobs, became a journalist on the local paper. </span><br />
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She had a successful career, even though she never left Port Talbot, in that she was well respected and became the local correspondent for the Daily Mail (then a decent newspaper not the hate-filled abhoration it is now). Mum worked very hard, often into the early hours of the morning and through weekends, and was desperate to do the right thing and not to let people down. She had been a talented short story writer in her youth but, sadly, this fell by the wayside as the pressures of her job grew and grew. It was these pressures, in part, coupled with the onset of losing her sight, that led to a serious depression which dogged her for the last 15 years of her life. </span><br />
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Three years or so before her death, someone started a hate mail campaign against her, sending poison pen letters and a great deal of junk mail that could only have been sent by someone who knew us well as it was always linked to things happening in the family. Not only did this greatly trouble Mum but the resultant stress, panic attacks and depression masked the fact that there was something seriously wrong with her health. After many trips to the GP she was finally taken seriously and, following rounds of tests, she was diagnosed in February 1992 with bowel cancer. I remember sitting with her and Dad when the consultant at Neath General Hospital told her that she had cancer. "Am I going to die?" she asked, the consultant (who must have known the prognosis) flippantly replied "We're all going to die".</span><br />
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Dad was strangely quiet at the hospital and I later found out that he had been told a few days earlier and had been walking around in his own personal hell trying to work out how to tell the only woman he had ever loved that she might soon be dead. Mum came home that day and we settled into a false optimism convincing ourselves that it was curable. I went home for a few weeks to help Dad nurse her while we waited for her to be admitted to the Heath Hospital in Cardiff for specialist treatment. Dad looked after Mum nearly every hour of the day while I did the shopping and cooking - trying to serve up as many vegetables as possible and making her various fruit and vegetable juice concoctions as we had read that these could help. </span><br />
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At the very end of March, Mum was admitted to the oncology ward at the Heath. Initially the doctors were very positive as bowel cancer, if caught early enough, is curable. Mum was very upbeat (although she was down when she heard that Neil Kinnock had lost the 1992 general election!). Everything was fine until one Sunday night when we were visiting and she suddenly and unexpectedly slipped into a coma. The doctors were summoned and amid much commotion Mum was moved to a side room and stabilised. The next morning, when Mum was conscious again, an ashen faced registrar entered the room and falteringly said "Mrs Painter, I'm very sorry but the cancer has reached your liver and metastasised throughout your body and there's nothing more we can do. We can make you comfortable but I don't expect you to live for more than five days." Mum was very calm and said "Thank you, now I finally know what I'm dealing with. I appreciate your kindness." I honestly think he was more upset than she was.<br /><br />Mum was by now in great pain and was put on increasing doses of morphine. This was distressing as she wanted to talk but the action of the drug meant that she mixed up her words and didn't make sense most of the time. Dad and I sat with her 24 hours a day for the two weeks that it took her to die - typically of my Mum she fought it every inch of the way. One of her last lucid comments was "I don't want bowel cancer on my death certificate, anything else but I don't want THAT to have beaten me" - her death certificate says "liver cancer". The nights were particularly distressing as she was delirious and thought that we were keeping her locked in the room - through all this time my Dad kept his composure, it was only months later that he totally collapsed and cried like a baby for hours.<br /><br />One of the last things I did for my Mum was to drive to Port Talbot and get my Gran so that she could see her one last time. At the hospital my Dad told my Gran that this was her last chance to put things right and that she should go and make her peace with Mum as this was the thing she wanted most of all as her mum (my Gran) had never once in her life told her that she loved her. My Gran went into the room and stood looking out of the window for an hour and didn't say a word. When I drove her home she thanked me for giving her a nice day out and stepped into her house without another word.</span><br />
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When I got back to the hospital, one of the doctors came up to me and said "So, you're a composer - you're Mum has been telling us all about you. She told everyone on the ward how proud she was of you before she became so ill." I knew that my Mum wanted me to do well as she had always pushing me to do better and was very disappointed when I withdrew from an engineering degree to go back to school to do music but she'd never said she was proud of me, one of those things we leave unsaid thinking they don't need to be uttered I suppose. </span><br />
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Mum passed away at 7am on the 21st April 1992, one minute she was breathing and then she wasn't. Dad still maintains that she hung on until daylight because she didn't want us driving home in the dark. The last thing that we did for her was to lie her down comfortably and Dad brushed her hair. He turned to me and said "My life is over now" and I think a little bit of me died that day too.</span><br />
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<b><u>MY DAD</u></b></span><br />
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William Ronald Painter (all the men in my family have the first name of William, except for me - I have it as my second name otherwise I would have been WC Painter!) was born in 1930 and is the son of a miner and an ex-confectionery shop owner. My Granny Painter was an ex-shop owner because when she ran her sweet shop she didn't have the heart to charge the poor children for their sweets and eventually went out of business - she was 4' 10" of kindness, far too much so on occasions, who would give you anything.</span><br />
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My Dad had as hard an upbringing as you would imagine from being in the South Wales coalfield in the 1930's. Money was very tight and the living conditions extremely poor but the communities were very close. My Dad's auntie and uncle lived across the road from them in Carmen Street. Caerau and he tells me that he always knew when they had visitors as he would come home from school to find tea chests and bare boards in his house as they had borrowed my Gran's furniture and carpets - apparently this used to send my Grampa Painter into a fury. He never lost his temper with my Gran, he used to walk out of the house and keep walking, having a pint in every pub he passed, until he calmed down, then he would go home and not a word was spoken. </span><br />
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He kept this up into old age when my Dad would occasionally receive a phone call - "Ronnie, I'm in <i>such and such a pub </i>in Bridgend (<i>having walked from Port Talbot</i>), come and get me" - my Grandad had gotten annoyed and walked out before he lost his temper with my Gran. My Dad is very proud of the fact that, despite living a hard life and working in often extreme circumstances, my Grampa Painter never swore. The worst I ever heard him say was "ddiawl" (the Welsh word for "devil"). Dad will recount the story of how, after someone touched off the explosives that he was planting in the coal face, my Grampa lay there with part of his face blown away and his leg broken in two places and recited "Mary had a little lamb" whilst doctors inserted a two foot pin, without anaesthetic, into his leg. My Grampa died from throat cancer (due to "the dust") but the first we knew of the illness was after he'd died - he went through the whole thing, including radiotherapy, without telling anyone or ever complaining. </span><br />
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During the war, my Dad must have been one of the very few children who went into the Blitz rather than be evacuated from it. Hearing how bad it was in London and that there was a shortage of food and fuel, my Grampa and my Dad used to go up to the East End of London (my family is from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leytonstone" target="_blank">Leytonstone</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chingford" target="_blank">Chingford</a>) with food and with bags of coal that they had scavenged from the hillsides and railway tracks. Typically of Dad, he hardly ever talks about it, I only found out when we went up to London to celebrate my Auntie Daisy's 90th birthday and the family were treating him like a hero. Similarly, I only found out that Dad had a professional trial as a goalkeeper for <a href="http://www.leytonorient.com/page/Home" target="_blank">Leyton Orient</a> when we got lost on the way to Auntie Daisy's funeral. Having taken a wrong turn I pulled up outside the ground and being in reminiscing mood he told me. "What happened?" I asked, "Oh, they offered me a contract but my Mam didn't want me to move so far away so I said no and went back to work in the Co-op in Caerau." Not a man to blow his own trumpet my Dad.</span><br />
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Leaving school in his early teens, Dad first worked as a milkman, then in the local Co-op before becoming a station porter for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Western_Railway" target="_blank">GWR</a> at Maesteg Station. </span><br />
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He served in the RAF in the late 1940's when doing his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_service" target="_blank">National Service</a> although I am a little sketchy as to what he did as he rarely talks about it and then only if pressed or talking to someone else who served. He told me that he'd just served as an orderly in the officer's mess but had to change this story slightly when I found an old box with his cap badge and his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircrew_brevet" target="_blank">wings</a> and admitted that he had been aircrew. I have since found out, by piecing together diverse bits of information, that he started out as an orderly but then became aircrew, flying first as a rear gunner and then as a photographer/bomb-aimer in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Lancaster" target="_blank">Lancasters</a>. </span><br />
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A few years ago we went on a coach trip which included a trip to the Mohne dam and that evening had a few drinks. I overheard Dad talking to another ex-serviceman and telling him that he'd started out serving drinks to officers but had ended up as one of them and had finished his service working in bomb disposal, when he realised I was listening he changed the subject. I have also found out that he got his wings flying a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Tiger_Moth" target="_blank">Tiger Moth</a> and subsequently flew <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Anson" target="_blank">Avro Ansons</a> but can't get him to tell me why or when.</span><br />
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Upon returning to civilian life, Dad returned to GWR, transferring to Port Talbot station after he had met (at a dance in Porthcawl Pavilion) and married my Mum. He was offered the station master's job at Swindon (a major promotion) but had to turn it down and leave GWR when my Mum's mother insisted that my parents stay in Port Talbot otherwise she would make my grandad's life hell (I had this directly from my mother). </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Film about the 5 major ports of South Wales in the 1970's</span></div>
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Dad left the railway and started to work for what was then the <a href="http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Steel_Company_of_Wales" target="_blank">Steel Company of Wales</a> and was involved in the design of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Port_Talbot" target="_blank">new harbour</a> and iron ore handling systems. He enjoyed his time in the draughtsman's office but this came to an end and with various job cuts taking place Dad was pushed from one dismal job to another until he ended up in the stores as a stocktaker, a job he hated. With his health already deteriorating - he had been diagnosed with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spondylosis" target="_blank">spondylosis</a> - an accident at work finally forced him to take early retirement at 58. Sadly, this coincided with the onset of my Mum's illness so they never managed to spend any time doing all the things that they had once planned.</span><br />
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Dad has always been a quiet, gentle man and since my Mum's death has lived a simple life without the wish to really do anything. With the exceptions of holidays (he loves the caravan where he can sit in the open air and read) and illnesses, he has gone to my Mum's grave on the same day every week for the past 20 years.</span><br />
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Dad has been extremely supportive of me and I know he is very proud but, I think, deep down he doesn't see it as a proper job and worries how I'll survive when he's gone.</span><br />
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<b><u><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GROWING UP AND SCHOOL DAYS</span></u></b><br />
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Family life was great and although both my parents were only-children I had a number of older second cousins, great aunties and uncles and friends of my parents who more than took the place of the missing aunties and uncles. Despite this though, I was a very lonely child. I have always been painfully shy (something I think I manage to cover up very well now) and, up to my thirties, had a terrible stammer. These things, coupled with being far too sensitive, meant I tended to be the outsider - always the last to be picked for teams, not invited to parties, bullied at school (by both teachers and pupils) and spending hours on end either riding my bike up and down the back lane or standing at the back gate waiting for someone (who never came) to ask me to go out and play. This has left me with deep scars and quite often I will react with what seems irrationally over the top pain or distress to events that to others seem trivial.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did have one good friend, Philip, who lived just across the lane from us but he went to the Welsh school so I only saw him on weekends and at holiday time. His parents moved back to Maesteg before we moved to Comprehensive School and I didn't see much of him after that.</span><br />
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My mother fought for me to start school early, 5 was the norm then but she got me into the reception class at <a href="http://www.npted.org/schools/primary/centralinfant/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank">Central Infants School</a> before my 5th birthday. The school is still there today, much the same, forty five years on.</span><br />
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I had a problem starting school as English is actually my third language. I had grown up in a family where although my parents and grandparents spoke English there was also Welsh and Italian (I have some Italian relatives although I'm not too sure of the connection save that I had an Italian "uncle" from Sicily!) spoken by various members who looked after me when I was a baby. Funnily enough, my Grampa Painter spoke Welsh (something he had learnt in the mines) even though he was from the East End of London (he had been a printer, the family trade, but had come to South Wales on holiday with a Welsh friend, met my grandmother, got married and never went back) whilst my Granny Painter didn't, it having been caned out of her in school when she was growing up in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llangynwyd" target="_blank">Llangynwyd</a>. I can remember sitting with my mother for hours on end whilst she used <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashcard" target="_blank">flash cards</a> to build up my English vocabulary and practised putting the words into sentences. I also remember working my way through the "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_and_John" target="_blank">Janet and John</a>" books and the great pride whenever I was allowed to move on to the next one. One consequence of winning my battle with English is that my Welsh is now, despite several attempts to revive it, very poor and my Italian is non-existent. I struggle to learn languages and although I have a smattering of both French and German I am nowhere near even basic fluency as I just can't think fast enough and have to translate everything back and forth from English - I wonder if this is the source of my stammering?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have to say that, for the most part, I didn't really enjoy school. In the 60's and 70's corporal punishment was still the order of the day and some teachers saw it as their privilege to hand out a caning as and when they felt like it so the shadow of the cane hung over us for most of the time. To be fair, there were also strict teachers whose only aim was to give us the best education that they could - I remember well Mrs Rolls, Mr Perkins and Mr Rees from my junior school (built in 1899) and how petrified I was of them but without the knowledge that they drilled into us<i> </i>I certainly would not have coped with secondary school. </span><br />
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There were also inspirational teachers such as Mr Lucas who, on a Friday afternoon or if covering for an absent teacher, would tell us to put our books away and to close our eyes while he told us a story. Mr Lucas had been writing a children's book and I still remember him telling us about "Charlie and the Magic Green Bottle" and how my imagination ran wild on those wonderful afternoons when we listened to him. He's long dead now, I wonder if he ever got his book published? There was also Mrs Southcombe, a young teacher who encouraged us to be creative and didn't treat us like factory fodder as so many teachers did. (<i>Please forgive me if any of these names are wrong - I am struggling to remember after all these years, I've always been bad with names having a more visual memory</i>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My generation passed through junior school when the memories of both grammar and secondary schools were still fresh (I had to take the 11+ even though it no longer had any standing) and streaming was all the rage. Looking back, how on earth can anyone decide that at age 11 a child is either going to be academically inclined or not - it's a nonsense. I've always believed passionately in the comprehensive system but also believe that it was flawed from its inception. It has ALWAYS been underfunded and, despite the best efforts of the teachers, has, generally, served to bring standards down to a common level rather than raise them. </span><br />
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My Mum and Dad, while being very supportive and proud, always wanted me to do better. My Dad always said that my Grandad wanted better for him than the mines and that he wanted better for me than the steelworks. There was always the gentle push to succeed (I should emphasise "gentle" as it was never aggressive) and what ever I accomplished I was expected to build upon. We used to have a class table at the end of each term and I regularly came in the top ten. I remember coming fourth one year and proudly telling Mum and Dad, the response was something along the lines of "Well done, now, who were the three better than you and how many marks did they get?" - there was still the regulation trip to the local Berni Inn (very fashionable at the time and seen as a posh night out) for steak and chips to celebrate. </span><br />
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A girl called Susan Griffiths (I had such a crush on her at age 10!) came top of the class every term and I remember the time when our marks were being read out and as we approached the end of the list, in Top of the Pops fashion, there was just myself and Susan left. There was a feeling of total elation when Susan's name was read out as being second! I rushed home, so pleased with myself and Mum and Dad were equally pleased, a table was booked at the local "<a href="http://www.grandhotelporttalbot.com/" target="_blank">Grand Hotel</a>", grandparents were told and then my Dad said "Mind you, you'll have to make sure you do the same next time to prove it wasn't a fluke!" </span><br />
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Please don't mistake me here, this was not pressurising or over-bearing parents - they had both missed out on education and, like most Welsh parents, knew the value of it and wanted their offspring to do better. Being naturally lazy, I would never have achieved anything without them. It has, however, left me with a lifelong need for approval and a sense that I've never done quite well enough and could do more. Perhaps that is why performance is so important to me and also so terrifying. It's not so much an ego boost to hear my music and the applause but the need to be accepted and told that I'm doing OK to quell the constant feeling that I'm conning everyone and what I do is really rubbish. That's probably something to go into in a later blog.</span><br />
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Once again, I was very fortunate to have some inspirational teachers at <a href="http://www.npted.org/schools/dyffryn/Pages/Gallery.aspx" target="_blank">Dyffryn Comprehensive</a> although my time there was very much a mixed bag. I found the time prior to going into the Sixth Form fairly dismal and, whilst I wasn't able to study music for 'O' level because of timetable clashes, the only ray of sunshine was being able to retreat to the music block to either practice (I was playing trumpet at this time) or compose simple brass pieces to play in the lunch hour. I enjoyed playing sport - rugby in the winter and, my particular love, cricket in the summer. Being tall for my age I always seemed to be the one who got injured first when playing rugby and my Mum got so sick of me coming home with injuries that she even tried to hide my boots once! I also played hockey for a while and although not very good at it I found it great fun - until we played the girl's hockey team and then I discovered what real pain was and how a hockey stick may be used as an offensive weapon!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At this time I also joined the BSC (Port Talbot) Brass Band and found it both rewarding and tremendous fun. Having never heard an orchestra (I didn't hear an orchestra live until I was 19 - Tippett's "<a href="http://youtu.be/ekTqSv5oA3I" target="_blank">Concerto for Double String Orchestra</a>" played by the Swansea Sound Sinfonia conducted by the recently deceased and much mourned <a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/music-in-wales/2012/01/14/conductor-trumpeter-poet-tributes-pour-in-for-john-jenkins-91466-30119590/" target="_blank">John Jenkins</a>, to whom so many of us owe so much) it introduced me to many classics (and also to beer!) by way of transcriptions for band and it was years before I realised it was violins that normally played all those busy cornet lines! It has, I fear, made me a little unsympathetic to string players - "What's your problem, at least you've got a bow - you should try playing all those notes with just breath control and your tongue!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_11747425" target="_blank">The Cory Band play the Finale of Saint Saens Symphony No.3 <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw</span> </a></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_11772721" target="_blank">The Cory Band play Wilfred Heaton's "Contest Music" at the National Brass Band Finals at the Royal Albert Hall in 1982 (I was there!)</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />In fact, with the exception of the university orchestra, the first times I heard a full symphony orchestra live was when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Solti" target="_blank">Solti</a> brought the LSO (probably the LSO "B" team) to Cardiff in 1982 with an all Beethoven programme and then later that year when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Maria_Giulini" target="_blank">Guilini </a>brought the Philharmonia to play all the Brahms symphonies.</span><br />
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After my 'O' levels I returned to study Pure Maths, Applied Maths and Physics at 'A' level. This was a bad mistake - I should have followed the humanities with English and History being my best subjects - but at least I was able to sit 'O' level Music in my first year of 'A' levels. </span><br />
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Our school had it's sights set on Oxbridge entries in the sciences so those of us who didn't come up to scratch rather fell behind. We had two possible Oxbridge candidates in our maths class and the bar was set at their level and I floundered several fathoms below them. I scraped passes in all three subjects, having been told by my Head of Maths that I was in no way intelligent enough to ever consider going to university (how I loved it when I not only got a place at university but, years later, was teaching at one), and was offered a place to study engineering (materials science) at <a href="http://www.swan.ac.uk/" target="_blank">Swansea University</a>. </span><br />
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Whilst not Oxbridge material, I did sit the scholarship examination for a place to study electrical engineering at Imperial College, London. I didn't get in but my Head of Maths was astounded that I made it in to the top 100 - shut him up for a bit! Coincidentally, I discovered years later that my cousin (by marriage) Peter (who was like a big brother to me) had studied electrical engineering at Imperial, gaining his doctorate there and going back to lecture after a very successful career in industry. Sadly, Peter died two weeks after Alun Hoddinott, an irreplacable loss.</span><br />
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Before taking up my place at Swansea, two things happened to change my mind. First, my economics master called me to one side in the corridor one day and said "My father said that music was no career for me and that I should study and then teach economics. I followed his advice, I've always been in work and have risen to be Head of Department. Do you know what? I've hated every day of it. If you've got any sense you'll come back, get your music 'A' level and go and study music." A few weeks later I attended the Sounding Brass Summer School in <a href="http://www.marlboroughcollege.org/" target="_blank">Marlborough College</a> (during which time I was part of a group that performed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Bliss" target="_blank">Bliss</a>'s <a href="http://youtu.be/hM6U-_ytrqM" target="_blank">Antiphonal Fanfares</a> whilst standing on the rooftops around the Quad - Health & Safety would never allow that now) where I had a long chat with the composer <a href="http://edwardgregson.com/en/home/" target="_blank">Edward Gregson</a> who very kindly looked at some of my pieces. Following this I decided to return to school to study for my music 'A' level and to study music at university.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Walter White c. 1980</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once again, fate took a hand - my music teacher was the wonderful, inspirational Walter White of Ystradgynlais. Walter White had been a professional trumpet player in London before returning to Wales to teach and to take over from his father as conductor of the <a href="http://www.ystradband.com/" target="_blank">Ystradgynlais Town Band</a>. Walter had taught me trumpet when I first started to learn and had subsequently qualified as a classroom teacher and was now Head of Music at my school. I had a wonderful year with him where we not only covered the curriculum at a sprint but with Walter introducing me to new ideas and to things he thought would benefit me at university. Walter encouraged my composition and also got me to conduct the school orchestra and brass ensemble to give me experience of standing in front of an audience. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A recording of "Bugler's Holiday" (Leroy Anderson) by the Canadian Brass</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Just to remind myself of playing it in a concert at school conducted by Walter White</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(The first time I realised that it was possible to impress the girls by being a musician!)</span></div>
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Walter White is one of the towering figures in my life - he not only encouraged me to fly higher than I ever thought I could and gave me the tools to do it, he also said the most prophetic thing - "you should apply to study at Cardiff, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alun_Hoddinott" target="_blank">Alun Hoddinott</a> is there and he'll be good for you."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>In Parts Two and Three I shall talk more about life in the Sixth Form, my seven wonderful years at University College Cardiff, the fantastic musical journey, the interesting people that I met, the friends that I made, some of the not so good things and, of course, Alun Hoddinott.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
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Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4974600177885718683.post-84422932966855381292011-09-14T00:27:00.000+01:002011-09-14T00:27:12.445+01:00Alun Hoddinott - A Tribute To My Friend on the Behance Network<a href="http://www.behance.net/gallery/Alun-Hoddinott-A-Tribute-To-My-Friend/2118226#.Tm_mqCSyaTY.blogger">Alun Hoddinott - A Tribute To My Friend on the Behance Network</a>Chris Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16843186431266924876noreply@blogger.com0