Lyrics

My faithful friend you have escaped me,
I close my eyes to you.
But I find myself in waking dreams
Of zebras huddled on the cool road.

The Earth has split and scarred in steps,
Bridging tight pink skin.
Taught beneath my somnolent feet
As they shuffle the missing streets.

Thin filaments glow in glass cases,
Slow dancing with the shift of night.
As I watch the shadows lean easy
Against crumbling walls.

The post <b><i>Sleepwalking<br></b></i>for soprano & piano appeared first on Bethan Morgan-Williams.

Lyrics

Rocks as old as the mountains,
Mountains as old as the rocks;
Trees are fragile saplings,
Girth thicker than a drill pipe,
Weaker than a twig

Hills are moving with the
Buzz of machines,
Vibrating as with the breath of life
Or the gasping shudders of death.

You see this world?
What you want is underneath,
Wear out the entrails and
Toss them to the skies,
Block out the sun.

For what?
For a handful of years longer
Before the crash.
For a handful of years longer
Before you are forced by necessity
To do what you should be doing by choice.

Walk with me, please walk with me.
Do not close your eyes and sit where you can’t see.

The post <b><i>Walk With Me<br></b></i>for mezzo-soprano & piano appeared first on Bethan Morgan-Williams.

Programme Note

Made famous by Cilla Black, Liverpool Lullaby has been through a series of transformations since being lifted from an early 19th-century folk song. The music that forms Robert Nunn’s Sandgate Dandling Song (composed ca. 1830) is the same music that Stan Kelly chose to base Liverpool Lullaby on (some 130 years later). In 1965, Liverpool Lullaby was recorded by Marian McKenzie (The Three City Four) and has since been covered by many musicians including Hughie Jones (The Spinners), Judy Collins, Val Doonican, the Ian Campbell Folk Group and of course, Cilla Black. Bethan’s arrangement uses Nunn’s melody and Kelly’s text, while presenting a new accompaniment that tempts the music into the classical realm. Described as “a haunted miniature music-drama” [Richard Bratby, Gramophone], the new arrangement provides yet another transformation of this poignant song.

Lyrics

Oh you are a mucky kid
Dirty as a dustbin lid
When he hears the things you did
You’ll get a belt from yer dad

Oh, you have your father’s nose
So crimson in the dark it glows
If you’re not asleep when the boozers close
You’ll get a belt from yer dad

You look so scruffy lying there
Strawberry jam tats in your hair
In all the world you haven’t a care
And I have got so many

It’s quite a struggle every day
Livin’ on yer father’s pay
The blighter drinks it all away
And leaves me without any

But though you have no silver spoon
Better days are coming soon
Our Nelly’s working at the Lune
And she gets paid on Friday

Perhaps one day we’ll have a splash
When Little Woods provide the cash
We’ll get a house in Knotty Ash
And buy your dad a brewery

Oh you are a mucky kid
Dirty as a dustbin lid
Now when he hears the things you did
You’ll get a belt from yer dad

Oh you have your father’s face
You’re growing up a real hard case
But there’s no one can take your place
Go fast asleep for your mummy

The post <b><i>arr. Liverpool Lullaby<br></b></i>for mezzo-soprano & piano appeared first on Bethan Morgan-Williams.

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Commissioned by Canolfan Gerdd William Mathias for the 2020 Wales International Piano Festival with support from: Tŷ Cerdd, Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru, Foyle Foundation & Colwinston Charitable Trust. Completed 4 October 2019 (Llandyssil). First Performance 3 October 2021 by Alys Roberts, Sara Trickey, Reinoud Ford & Iwan Llewelyn-Jones, Galeri Arts (Caernarfon). Dedicated to Ludwig. Duration ca. 5′

Music inspired by the second movement of Beethoven’s Septet Op. 20 (mvt. II) and Y Bardd yn ei Awen (The Inspired Bard) – trad. transcribed by Edward Jones, 1802.

Lyrics

Gwyn ei vyd ‘r aderyn,
Ni hau ni vêd un gronyn;
Ni vedd orchwyl yn y byd,
Ond canu ar hyd y vlwyddyn.

Moes gusan bychan dibechod, digriv
Mal degryn o wirod,
Medrusaidd medru osod,
Er mwyn Duw, ar vy min dôd!

The happy bird nor reaps nor sows,
One only care his bosom knows,
In Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring,
The business of his life – to sing.

Give me the playful harmless kiss,
That little [boon,] melifuous bliss,
Thou well canst lay it on my lip,
The drop, for God’s sake, let me sip!

– Welsh (original) by Richard Llwyd
– English (translation) by Elizabeth Edwards

The post <b><i>Cusan Aderyn<br></b></i>for soprano & piano trio appeared first on Bethan Morgan-Williams.

The piece is in three movements:
i. PM promises France their very own Mr Niemantsverdriet
ii. Twenty missing raindroplets; assumed dead.
iii. It looks like a gardening tool and acts like something from outer space

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Programme Note

In the Crypt is an interactive piece for French horn and electronics, inspired by a recording session that took place in the chapel of Lancing College in 2015. The samples that make up the electronics interweave to produce a blanket of sound, juxtaposed with striking and percussive piano sounds. Many extended horn techniques are used, making it an exciting, virtuosic and technically-demanding piece. Use of vibrato is explored extensively throughout the piece, and many of the nuances rely on a contrast between conventional tuning and the beautiful (sometimes haunting) natural tunings.

– Bethan Morgan-Williams

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