Programme Note

The word ‘Gêmdis’ combines the Welsh words for ‘game’ and ‘dice’. Morgan-Williams’s Gêmdis was composed in 2020 for Carl Rosman and Musikfabrik. Gêmdisyn – the suffix -yn designating in Welsh a singular thing found in the natural world – is based on the solo E-flat clarinet part of that piece. It is more like a new piece made from recycled materials than a mere extraction, however: sections have been reordered, reshaped and in some cases discarded entirely. While Gêmdis took several rolls through different emotional states, Gêmdisyn alternates between just two: a whimsical, skipping chatter, like a child talking to itself, and a fiery, flashing loss of control. A new central section of fragile harmonics and deliberately audible leaks of air – ironically marked ‘mechanical’ – breaks the pattern and despite its delicacy adds a degree of certainty to the random shakes of the dice. As the game comes to its end and the different temperaments depart, it is this atmosphere that remains.

Gêmdisyn was commissioned by Musikfabrik and written for Carl Rosman.

Tim Rutherford-Johnson

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Programme Note

Reverie took its motivation from the seventh stanza of The Teak Forest, by Violet Nicolson (pseud. Laurence Hope). It reads:

Whilst every gust of the Jungle night
Was fanning the flame you have set alight.
For these things have power to stir the blood
And compel us all to their own chance mood.
And to love or not we are no more free
Than a ripple to rise and leave the sea. 

The poem features in Nicolson’s inaugural volume titled The Garden of Kama And other Love Lyrics from India. The material for these poems is not derived from any identifiable Indian source but rather, is reminiscent of Sufi poetry by way of its spiritual undertone and rhythmic flow. These are poems that summon powerful imagery while communicating an overriding impression of peace, love and kindliness.

The piece looks to reflect Nicholson’s words, which were chosen with the dedicatee – Bethan’s sister, Elen – in mind. The creative process was very much a collaborative one, with both parties contributing to the circulation of ideas: first through discovery; then development; and finally, detail. Needless to say this was a particularly special project, with Reverie ultimately being the product of a series of exchanges between two sisters.

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Listen: https://soundcloud.com/bethanmorganwilliams/oceans

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Programme Note

“Like a thornbush brandished by the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.” (Proverbs 26:9, New Revised Standard)

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg9nZsdgTz4

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