Abstract
The Welsh word tirlun refers to the idea of landscape and also to the relationship people have with their surroundings. When I was approached to compose this work for the Ulster Orchestra I was asked if I could create music in response to the landscape of my native Wales. I thought about the area that I grew up in, where highly industrialised communities existed amongst the beautiful landscapes of the South Wales Valleys creating stark contrasts between nature and industry. At the time I was also reading poetry by T. H. Parry Williams; the following passage provided an initial stimulus for the piece:
Ni byddaf yn siwr pwy ydwyf yn iawn
Mewn iseldiroedd bras a di-fawn
- Mae cochni fy ngwaed ers canrifoedd hir
Yn gwybod fod rhagor rhwng tir a thir.
Ond gwn pwy wyf, os caf innau fryn
A mawndir a phabwyr a chraig a llyn.
I don’t know who I am
On rich lowland lacking peat
- Down the centuries my red corpuscles
Have sensed the differences between land and land.
But I know who I am, if given a hill
Peat-bog and rushes, rock and lake.
T. H. Parry Williams (1887-1975)
Ni byddaf yn siwr pwy ydwyf yn iawn
Mewn iseldiroedd bras a di-fawn
- Mae cochni fy ngwaed ers canrifoedd hir
Yn gwybod fod rhagor rhwng tir a thir.
Ond gwn pwy wyf, os caf innau fryn
A mawndir a phabwyr a chraig a llyn.
I don’t know who I am
On rich lowland lacking peat
- Down the centuries my red corpuscles
Have sensed the differences between land and land.
But I know who I am, if given a hill
Peat-bog and rushes, rock and lake.
T. H. Parry Williams (1887-1975)
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Place of Publication | St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh |
| Size | 8 minutes |
| Publication status | Published - 22 Jul 2008 |