‘o dan y ddaear’ with Fidelio Trio

Originally written for eight instruments and fixed media, ‘o dan y ddaear [under the earth]’, was performed by the Berkeley Ensemble, as part of Tŷ Cerdd's CoDI Chamber Residency in 2019. This reworking for piano trio and fixed media has been especially commissioned by Music@Malling Festival.

The original inspiration for the piece was from a very pure place, just using the voice of Miss M. M. Williams (recorded 1959 in Idanfryn, Anglesey) singing of love and loss. And little by little I go from her world to my world, which is much more cacophonous and has a more urban sensibility.

There is a very personal connection for me at play here. I have always performed and connected with the traditional music of Wales. The tales. The myth. Stories of families. The joy. The heartache. Fascinated with the nostalgia. How can we reconnect with this music and the messages within in a world of such change? What would happen if the ancient forms of our music are lost in translation and buried?

Permission to use the recording - 'Peth mawr ydi cariad' - has been kindly granted by National Museum Wales /Amgeuddfa Cymru. Collection details are as follows: SFNHM Tape 171. Collected 30.04.1959 from Miss M. M. Williams (teacher, b. 1894), Idanfryn, Brynsiencyn, Anglesey. Additional sound design has been composed collaboratively between Nathan James Dearden and sound design artist, Thomas Baynes.

This work was commissioned by Music@Malling with generous funding from the Fenton Arts Trust.

When can i hear this being performed live?

For more information about when you can hear this in concert, please visit this webpage (link embedded)

More information about o dan y ddaear

For full information about this new work, please visit this dedicated webpage. (lInk embedded)