Hearts Afire * Calonnau Ar Dan
Track Listings
| 1. Cenarth | ||
| 2. Llanfair/Mawlgan | ||
| 3. Iesu Annwyl (Kate) | ||
| 4. Y Gelynnen (The Holly) | ||
| 5. Rhamant Dau (An Affair for Two) | ||
| 6. Gorwelion (Horizons) | ||
| 7. Clychau Aberdyfi (Bells of Aberdyfi) | ||
| 8. Susannah | ||
| 9. March of the Men of Harlech | ||
| 10. Nantyrarian | ||
| 11. Blaenwern/Rachie | ||
| 12. True Love | ||
| 13. Heaven is My Home | ||
| 14. Aberystwyth | ||
| 15. Hen Wlad/America |
Editorial Reviews The orchestrations include brass, strings and harp, and are supported by the Great Organs of the First Congregational Church, Los Angeles, one of the largest church pipe organs in the world. The organ is also featured in a solo performed by the talented Los Angeles-based organist, Kemp L. Smeal.
From the Artist
When I was a small boy in Wales, my home town of Aberystwyth staged a singing competition during August and the sounds of great Welsh choirs would fill the warm summer nights. I would lie in bed listening to the mighty sounds wafting across the valley. I was hooked for life on choral music and the splendid music of Wales, sacred and secular. Joseph Parry wrote a magnificent hymn tune, which he named after the town. I can remember singing this great hymn, with Charles Wesley’s wonderful words, ‘till the storm of life is past’, as a six year old choir-boy, while the Atlantic storms roared outside the church. Welsh hymn tunes began to mesmerize me. My pals were finding the rhythms of rock and roll; I was finding the harmonic and melodic magic of great Welsh hymns. Then came the great pub hymn singing experience, where Mawlgan and Rachie were sung with great ‘hwyl’ (the Welsh word for fervour) over and over again. Wonderful ‘a cappella’ spontaneous four–part harmony sung late into the night. When I was falling in love with the music of The Land of My Fathers, I never dreamt that one day I would cross an ocean and a continent and make a home for myself in a place called Los Angeles, where, by the grace of God, I would direct a Welsh concert choir; a multi-ethnic choir, bringing people of many different races and creeds together every week to perform and enjoy the great music of Wales that I had learnt as a boy. Côr Cymraeg De Califfornia laboured for nearly three years to create this CD. Producing this has been the most wonderful musical experience of my life. The entire choir and I will be delighted if you, the listener, wherever you may be, share a little of the joy we experience every Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles.
About the Artist
Michael J. Lewis, composer and director, was born in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales. He was a choirboy at six and church organist at ten. Later, he studied harmony, counterpoint and composition at the Guildhall School of Music in London. His numerous film score credits include Julius Caesar, The Medusa Touch, The Naked Face, Theatre of Blood, Hound of the Baskervilles and Sphinx. He won the Ivor Novello Award (Britain’s premier music prize) for his first film score, The Madwoman of... read more
Album Description
Hearts Afire * Calonnau Ar Dan is the dramatic debut CD from the Welsh Choir of Southern California (a multi-ethnic choir.) Under the artistic leadership of its Emmy Award-wiining director, Michael J. Lewis, the choir brings to life both the traditional music of Wales, as well as contemporary pieces written by leading Welsh poets. The CD features a number of talented young artists from Wales, including sopranos Catherine Ayers, Fflur Wynn, Rhian Mair Lewis, Jill Padfield, Rhiannon Pugh and baritone Aled Edwards.
Hearts Afire * Calonnau Ar Dan
Hearts Afire * Calonnau Ar Dan, Music, Michael J. Lewis, Welsh Choir of Southern California (A Multi-ethnic Choir)
Hearts Afire * Calonnau Ar Dan
Music Info:
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