- 1. CADER IDRIS / DAWNS Y TYLWYTH TEG
- (Cader Idris / The Fairy Reel)
- This well-known harp air named after the mountain in Meirionnydd was composed by John Parry 'Bardd Alaw', a harpist from Denbigh who did much to promote and popularise Welsh music in fashionable London circles and music halls during the last century. The reel is one common to all the nations of the British Isles, here in its Welsh form taken from the playing of Nansi Richards 'Telynores Maldwyn', the person primarily responsible for the survival of the Triple Harp tradition to the present day.
- 2. LLYDAW
- (Brittany)
- This simple but plaintive melody was probably from Brittany originally (hence the title), but found its way over to Wales where it became known as a hymn-tune. Taken from the playing of Dafydd and Gwyndaf Roberts (Ar Lôg), who in turn originally had it from Nansi Richards.
- 3. COUNT SAX'S MINUET / THE LASS THAT WAS LADEN WITH CARE
- Two pieces from A Collection of Welsh, English, and Scotch Airs, (1761), published by Blind Parry of Rhiwabon, the famous Triple Harpist (?1710-1782). The first is probably one of his own compositions in a popular rhythm of the day, and the second is his arrangement of a traditional Scottish tune, written specifically for the Triple Harp.
- 4. JIGS:
- Tafarn yr Ysgub / Yr Hen Olchyddes / Pranc Madame Cordé
- (The Wheatsheaf/The Washerwoman / Madame Cordé's Frolic)
- A mish-mash of jigs from the Welsh, Irish, and English country dance traditions, all 'Cambrianized' on the Welsh Triple Harp. The First two are from the manuscripts of Thomas D. Llewelyn 'Llewelyn Alaw', a triple-harpist from Aberdâr, and an avid collector of Welsh music in the last century, and the third is really two halves of two different jigs, (Madame Cordé's Frolic and Valenciennes) from Preston's Twenty-Four Country Dances, (London, 1794) accidentally (but quite satisfactorily) juxtaposed.
- 5. ANODD YMADAEL
- (Loth to Depart)
- A Welsh ballad tune arranged with variations by Edward Jones 'Burdd y Brenin' (harpist laureate to George IV) and published in his first volume of Welsh music The Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards, 1784.
- 6. Y GOF DU / HOFFEDD ARGLWYDDES Y FENNI
- (The Harmonious Blacksmith / Lady Abergafenni's Fancy)
- Legend has it that the great composer Handel came to Whitchurch on the Welsh borders, and had to shelter from the rain in a smithy. He heard the blacksmith singing in Welsh as he struck his anvil, and was so taken with the tune that he set it with variations for the harpsichord. I have coupled it with a Welsh dance tune that highlights the Baroque nature of much traditional Welsh music.
- 7. LLWYNONN
- (The Ash Grove)
- MI>The well-known (and very typical) Welsh air of the early 18th century, played in the form 'theme and variations', a form very popular with the Welsh harpists of that lime. The melody also appeared in various other guises during the period, namely in the Beggar's Opera, and in the repertoire of the Irish harpist Turlough O'Carolan, amongst several other Welsh airs he pinched. The Saxons also pinched this for their Morris dancing, and in later years composed unfit words for it.
- 8. PEN-RHAW / CAINC Y DATGEINIAD
- (Pen-rhaw / The Minstrel's Strain)
- Two Welsh harp airs, the first traditional and the second composed by John Parry 'Bardd Alaw' in the traditional style. Both have proved very popular in the past for singing penillion, the strange and unique Welsh art-form of singing verses to the harp. The trick is to make verses of one metre and phrase length fit to a harp air of another, but the voice must begin after the harp, sing a separate melody (in counterpoint), and yet finish al the same time. (Which is all right, if you like that sort if thing.)
- 9. CAINC RUFFYDD AB ADDA AP DAFYDD / PROFIAD Y BOTWM
- (Ruffydd ab Adda ap Dafydd's Strain / Prelude of the Boss)
- Two mediaeval pieces, taken from the Robert ap Huw manuscript, now housed in the British Museum. Robert ap Huw was a harpist who lived during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James IV (& I). His manuscript contains examples of the bardic music of Wales from the Renaissance and Middle Ages, if not earlier, and examination thereof shows that music in Wales at the time was definitely a highly learned art form, based on harmony and harmonic effect. The music is written in a strange tablature, which is not easily readable at first glance. Several scholars have attempted to decipher the music on various occasions, most coming up with different answers, some more satisfying than others. The two pieces here were deciphered by Peter Crossley-Holland. The 'boss' was the ornate jewel that decorated most harps at the time, and Gruffydd ab Adda ap Dafydd was a mediaeval Welsh poet.
- 10. PROFIAD YR EOS BRIDO
- (The Nightingale's Prelude)
- Another piece from the Robert Ap Huw manuscript, this time deciphered by Arnold Dolmetsch. He describes the piece as being a translation of the song of the nightingale into the language of the harp.
- 11. WALTZ ABER-NANT / WALTZ DINEFWR
- (The Aber-nant Waltz / The Dinefwr Waltz)
- Two waltzes from the manuscripts of 'Llewelyn Alaw', Aberdâr, which are now safely housed for posterity in our National Library at Aberystwyth. We in Wales, just like everyone else in Western Europe, have always been dedicated followers of fashion, and these two waltzes prove the point.
- 12. CODIAD YR EHEDYDD
- (The Rising of the Lark)
- A harp air used widely for penillion singing, set with variations by Edward Jones 'Bardd y Brenin' in his book The Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards, ( 1784).
- 13. TON ALARCH
- (The Swan Song)
- A graceful and majestic harp air reminiscent of a swan gliding across a lake, also said to be an imitation of the swan's song, sung only just before the swan dies. This is taken from Edward Jones' second book, The Bardic Museum, ( 1802). The variation (set by me) can only be played on the Welsh Triple Harp, as it requires use of both the double row and the chromatic row at the same time.
- 14. AFALAU SEIDR / PIBDDAWNS YR ANGYLION
- (Cider Apples / The Angels Hornpipe)
- Two hornpipes in the traditional style, composed by me specifically for the Triple Harp. The first commemorates a wild dancing trip to Somerset, where the hosting side showed us a cider-mill in the morning, and several members of my team decided to get our ears pierced that afternoon. The second is dedicated to Lowri Sprung from Los Angeles whom I first met in Aberysiwyth when she came to spend a (crazy) year here at the Centre of the Known Universe. It also goes by the names 'Pibddawns Lowri', and 'Pibddawns Tredinsel'. The striking similarity between traditional American and Welsh music is shown here clearly in the cadence, obviously showing how much influence the Welsh had on American musical development from an early time, possibly initiated by the Mandan Indians.
- 15. AR HYD Y NOS
- (All Through the Night)
- Perhaps the best-known of all Welsh airs, set with variations.
- 16. CLYCHAU ABERDYFI
- (The Bells of Aberdyfi)
- The famous Welsh folk-song arranged to show the Welsh Triple Harp at its very best, imitating the bells of the drowned towns and cities of Cantre'r Gwaelod, ringing mysteriously from under the sea off the west coast of Wales at Aberdyfi.
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