Guto Pryderi Puw (born 1971)[1] is a Welsh composer, university lecturer and conductor. He is considered to be one of the most prominent Welsh composers of his generation and a key figure in current Welsh music.[2] Puw's music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and been featured on television programmes for the BBC and S4C. He has twice been awarded the Composer's Medal at the National Eisteddfod.
Puw's works include pieces for unusual combinations of instruments, such as a tuba quartet or a trio consisting of harp, cello and double-bass, as well as more traditional forces such as solo baritone and piano, choir or orchestra. He was associated with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales as its Resident Composer, the first holder of this title, from 2006 to 2010. Puw's own Welsh identity is a recurrent theme in his music: some of his pieces set Welsh-language poetry to music and one of his pieces, Reservoirs, is written about the flooding of Welsh valleys to provide water for England.
Biography
Born in Parc (a village in Gwynedd near Bala),[3] Puw studied music composition at Bangor University with John Pickard, Andrew Lewis and Pwyll ap Siôn.[4] Puw was awarded with a MMus degree in 1996 and a PhD degree in 2002.[4] He was then awarded an Arts Council of Walesbursary and studied with the composer John Metcalf.[5] Puw was appointed as a Lecturer in Music at Bangor University in 2006, having previously been a Teaching Fellow in Music from 2004.[4] A Welsh speaker, he has been the Welsh Medium Teaching Fellow for the School of Music.[6] He was the founding member and conductor for Côr Cyntaf i'r Felin, a Welsh-language choir based in Y Felinheli near Bangor.[7]
Puw has received commissions from (amongst others) BBC Radio 3, the Welsh baritoneJeremy Huw Williams, the Bangor New Music Festival and the North Wales International Music Festival.[4] He was appointed the first Resident Composer with BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW) in 2006 and held this position until 2010. During this time, Puw wrote a concerto for oboe (premiered in 2006) and an orchestral piece, ... onyt agoraf y drws ..., which was first performed to critical acclaim at the 2007 Proms.[5]
He was a founding member and the Artistic Director of the Bangor Music Festival, a festival for new music in north Wales founded in 2000.[8] He received the Tlws y Cerddor award from the Welsh Music Guild.[9]
Music
Welsh links
Puw's music is rooted in the language and literature of Wales, with a particular affinity to the poetry of R. S. Thomas.[2] Welsh titles and settings of poetry in Welsh, such as Mecanwaith, Dawns y Sêr, and ... onyt agoraf y drws ..., feature in his work. He has won the Composer's Medal at the National Eisteddfod of Wales twice, winning it first in 1995 for a harp piece, Ffantasia II.[3] In 1997, when the Eisteddfod was held in Bala, he won the Medal for a string quartet, Mecanwaith ("Mechanism") – this piece was later featured in S4C's television series Y Cyfansoddwyr ("The Composers").[3]Mecanwaith has also been performed by the Duke Quartet at the 1998 Bath International Music Festival and the 1999 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.[10]
Orchestral works
Puw's oboe concerto was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and was premiered by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and their principal oboist David Cowley at Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon, on 27 April 2006.[11] It takes its inspiration from different qualities of the human voice, including stutters and chatterboxes.[11] Puw has said that "The second movement is inspired by talkative people who won't let you contribute to a conversation", represented by a repeated row of 13 notes played until "it gets rather unbearable".[11][12] It was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 1 March 2007 as part of a programme of music by Welsh composers to celebrate St David's Day.[13] The concerto won Puw the 2007 BBC Radio 3 Listeners Award at the British Composer Awards.[11]
His orchestral piece Reservoirs was inspired by a 1968 poem by R. S. Thomas about the drowning of Welsh valleys such as Tryweryn (a few miles from where Puw grew up) and Clywedog to provide water for England.[14] Puw had a particular affinity with the topic as his grandfather lost farmland in the Tryweryn flooding.[15] Nevertheless, he has said that he "decided not to take the poem too literally because as a composer you can be subject to criticism for doing that."[12] It was nominated in 2005 in the Large-Scale Composition category of the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards.[16] The music was used in a BBC2 Wales documentary, "Drowning a Village", broadcast on 9 March 2006.[15] A performance by BBC NOW was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of the 2005 Vale of Glamorgan Festival.[17]
As part of his association with BBC NOW, Puw was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 to compose for the 2007 Proms. His orchestral piece, ...onyt agoraf y drws... ("...unless I open the door...") was premiered on 9 August 2007, conducted by David Atherton.[18] It is based on a story from the Mabinogion, a collection of medieval Welsh tales, in which a group of warriors, lately returned from Ireland, feast in Harlech for seven years with the severed head of their leader at the head of the table. They then feast in Penfro for eighty years in a hall with three doors, and only remember the dreadful events that happened in Ireland when the third door opens. Each of the three doors in Penfro was represented by an instrument in a box in the Royal Albert Hall.[18]
In recent years, each movement of his lyrical Violin Concerto - Soft Stillness (2012–14) uses quotations from the 5th Act of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice as inspiration. The orchestral work Camouflage (2017–18) is constructed from different layers of textures created by various instrumental combinations. The repeated two-note motif introduced at the beginning and later the ascending scales are gradually concealed within thick blocks of orchestral textures. Often these blocks have been constructed from layers of identical ideas that are repeated within a passage, similar to a pattern found in a typical camouflage.
Opera and music theatre
In 2009 Hadau was commissioned by the National Eisteddfod of Wales to be performed alongside an installation by artist Christine Mills at the Lle Celf pavilion. Scored for soprano, harp and narrator, the work was inspired by the strong Cerdd Dant tradition particularly found in rural communities of Meirionnydd and other parts of the country.
In 2017 Puw completed his first chamber opera Y Tŵr based on the play by the Welsh playwright, Gwenlyn Parry and to libretto by Gwyneth Glyn. It was premiered by Music Theatre Wales and Richard Baker on 18 May 2017 at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff during the Vale of Glamorgan Festival.[19] The opera in three acts explores the relationship and emotions between two characters during three specific periods in their lives, during youth, middle age and finally, old age.
Other works
Unusual instrumentation and unusual performance techniques, including elements of improvisation, are also important features of his work. In 1998 he composed X-ist, a piece for IST (the Improvising String Trio, consisting of harp, cello and double-bass). It was described by reviewers as a "frighteningly frantic" and "challenging" piece.[20][21]X-ist uses a graphic score and includes written directions to the players that act as "creative stimuli", containing notes and motifs to be followed.[20] The piece also requires the cellist and double-bassist to tap their instruments, as well as use normal playing methods.[20] Another piece requiring improvisation by performers was his commission for the 2001 Bangor New Music Festival, Trioled, which was written for ensemble (saxophone, guitar, harp, keyboard, cello, piano) and optional dancer. In his performing notes, Puw describes the pieces as a "stimulus for musical improvisation" in which any notes, normal or extended musical techniques and/or percussive effects may be applied.[22]Trioled has two contrasting sub-sections, a and b, arranged in the form a-b-a-a-a-b-a-b to match the Welsh poetic measure of the same name, with the strings playing calmly in the "a" sections, and saxophone and keyboard (gradually joined by the other instruments) playing in a more lively manner in the "b" sections.[22] The musicians and the dancer are required to react to each other's contributions in each section to create a "multi-media" experience.[22]
Visages, his 1999 piece for 2 tubas and 2 euphoniums, was described as "astringent, often whimsical but well written for these instruments".[23] Puw said that in the piece "Freedom is granted to the performers to make any subtle facial expressions that add to the musical interpretation".[24] Puw describes Ffantasia III (a piece for solo piano, composed for the 2000 Bangor New Music Festival) as an "intimate reflection" upon the music of, and a tribute to, Robert Schumann, his "intricate compositional style" and "world of delicate expression".[25] The music becomes "simpler and softer" throughout the piece, moving from the "rhythmic complexity" of the opening bars through to slow quavers transforming into triplets.[25] An ensemble piece, different light (for clarinet, violin, cello and piano) was "inspired by the idea of moving a picture from one place to another, be it to another house, or from one room to the next, or even from one wall to another."[26] As the picture is moved, it looks the same but is perceived in a different light.[26] Puw attempts to convey this in musical terms by having each instrument enter separately with its own musical phrase in the first part of the piece. Then, in the second part of the piece, all the thematic material is repeated with the instruments playing simultaneously, so that the music is similarly perceived in a different light.[26]different light was featured at the 2001 UKwithNY festival at the Angel Orensanz Center in New York City.[10] His 2005 composition for the Bangor New Music Festival, Stereo Type, was written for amplifiedtypewriters and tape. It was premiered by School of Music students from Bangor University in the Deiniol Shopping Centre, Bangor, on 5 March 2005.[4]
In 2017 he composed Sustained Clusters (March) for brass quintet and fairground organ, which was first performed by Onyx Brass at the Eastern Shelter, Barry during the Vale of Glamorgan Festival. The work features a series of chordal clusters, repeated descending modal scales and a playful tune, creating a humorous dialogue between the brass ensemble and the fairground organ. His latest piece for street organ was Ffantasia V and was premiere at the Vale of Glamorgan FestivalArchived 6 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine in May 2019.[27][bettersourceneeded]
Words by Nesta Wyn Jones, commissioned by Jeremy Huw Williams and the Arts Council of Wales;[29] a version for baritone and orchestra was first performed on 16 March 2007 by Jeremy Huw Williams and BBC NOW conducted by Grant Llywellyn.[29]
Commissioned by the 2009 National Eisteddfod, Y Bala
2009
Agorawd 'Torri'r Garreg'
orchestra
Commissioned by Bangor University as part of their 125th anniversary celebrations, premiered by BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Listen to an extract here
Commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, premiered during the Bangor New Music Festival, Prichard-Jones Hall by BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Grant Llywellyn on 26 March 2010
2010
Noson Tân Gwyllt (Bonfire Night)
baritone and piano
Commissioned by Jeremy Huw Williams and premiered at the North Wales International Music Festival, St Asaph Cathedral 22 September 2010
2012
Digwyddiad Sugnwr Llwch (Vacuum Event)
three performers
Premiered by the Bangor New Music Ensemble at the Bangor New Music Festival, Powis Hall, 15 March 2012
2012
Naid Sgi (Ski Jump)
one performer
Premiered by the Bangor New Music Ensemble at the Bangor New Music Festival, Powis Hall, 15 March 2012
2013
Trio (lliw) (Trio (colour))
violin, cello and piano
Premiered by the Mozart-Vienner Trio, North Wales International Music Festival, St Asaph, 23 September 2013
Commissioned by Madeleine Mitchell and Ty Cerdd for the Bangor New Music Festival. Premiered by Madeleine Mitchell and Orchestra of the Swan, conducted by David Curtis, Bangor New Music Festival, Prichard-Jones Hall, Bangor, 14 March 2014
2014
Tair Cerdd Dylan Thomas (Three Dylan Thomas Poems)
I - Light breaks where no sun shines II - Should lanterns shine III - Sometimes the sky's too bright
SATB choir a cappella
Commissioned by The School of Music, Bangor University and Pontio. Premiered by the Bangor University Singers during the 'My Friend Dylan Thomas' Festival, Powis Hall, Bangor, 29 October 2014
2016
Fy nghangen lân, fy nghowled glyd (My pure bough, my warm embrace)
flute, clarinet, violin, cello
Commissioned by Reuben Pace for the 'Hearing Orpheus Today' event. Premiered by the Orpheus Ensemble at the Gozo Ministry Hall, Malta on 28 May 2016
Commissioned by The Vale of Glamorgan Festival. Premiered by Onyx Brass at the Eastern Shelter, Barry during the Vale of Glamorgan Festival on 21 May 2017
2017
'A gwaedd y bechgyn...' ('And the outcry of the boys...')
flute, clarinet, harp
Commissioned by Community Music Projects with financial support from Tŷ Cerdd. Premiered by Ellie Lighton, Sioned Eleri Roberts and Mared Emlyn at Beaumaris Parish Church, Anglesey on 18 November 2017
2017-18
Camouflage ('Cuddliw')
full orchestra
A co-commission by BBC Radio 3 and Tŷ Cerdd. Premiered by BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Jac van Steen as part of the Contemporary Evenings series at Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff on 28 March 2018
2018
Uwchsonig (Ultrasonic)
ensemble
A commission by UPROAR. Premiered by UPROAR under Michael Rafferty at Chapter, Cardiff on 26 October 2018
1997 – Winner of the Composer's Medal at the National Eisteddfod of Wales for Mecanwaith (string quartet)[3]
2005 – Reservoirs (orchestral) nominated in the Large-Scale Composition category of the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards[16]
2007 – Winner of the BBC Radio 3 Listeners Award at the British Composer Awards for his Oboe Concerto[11]
2013 – Sir Geraint Evans Award presented by the "for his significant contribution to Welsh music"
2015 – '…onyt agoraf y drws…' was chosen as the 2nd finest orchestral work by a Welsh composer, Gramophone magazine
Recordings
Reservoirs – Orchestral Works by Guto Pryderi Puw, Signum Records (May 2014). Tracks includes ...onyt agoraf y drws..., Concerto for Oboe, Reservoirs, Hologram and 'Break the Stone' Overture.
Violin Concerto – Soft Stillness, included on the CD Violin Muse performed by violinist Madeleine Mitchell and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Edwin Outwater, Divine Art (October 2017).
Visages, included on the CD Earth and Moon performed by Tubalaté.
Related Research Articles
Ebbw Vale is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr conurbation has a population of roughly 33,000. It has direct access to the dualled A465 Heads of the Valleys trunk road and borders the Brecon Beacons National Park.
The BBC National Orchestra of Wales is a Welsh symphony orchestra and one of the BBC's five professional radio orchestras. The BBC NOW is the only professional symphony orchestra organisation in Wales, occupying a dual role as both a broadcasting orchestra and national orchestra. The BBC NOW has its administrative base in Cardiff, at the BBC Hoddinott Hall on the site of the Wales Millennium Centre, since January 2009.
Barry is a town and community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It is on the north coast of the Bristol Channel approximately 9 miles (14 km) south-southwest of Cardiff. Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and the resurrected Barry Island Pleasure Park. According to Office for National Statistics 2021 estimate data, the population of Barry was 56,605.
This article is about the particular significance of the year 2004 to Wales and its people.
Grace Mary Williams was a Welsh composer, generally regarded as Wales's most notable female composer, and the first British woman to score a feature film.
Huw Meredydd Stephens is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music.
The National Eisteddfod of Wales is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competitors typically number 6,000 or more, and overall attendance generally exceeds 100,000 visitors, the highest recently being 186,000 attending the 2024 festival in Pontypridd. The 2018 Eisteddfod was held in Cardiff Bay with a fence-free 'Maes'. In 2020, the event was held virtually under the name AmGen; events were held over a one-week period.
John Metcalf MBE is a Welsh-Canadian composer. He has worked in many forms, including large-scale operas, choral and orchestral works, and chamber music, both instrumental and vocal. His music is tonal, and is often rhythmically complex, with much use of polyrhythms.
Madeleine Louise Mitchell MMus, ARCM, GRSM, FRSA is a British violinist who has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in over forty countries. She has a wide repertoire and is particularly known for commissioning and premiering new works and for promoting British music in concert and on disc.
Stereo Type is a piece by the contemporary Welsh composer Guto Puw. It was commissioned for the 2005 Bangor New Music Festival, of which Puw is the chairman and artistic director.
"...onyt agoraf y drws..." is an orchestral piece lasting approximately 15 minutes by the Welsh composer Guto Puw. It was first performed on 9 August 2007, at the Proms by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by David Atherton. Puw was resident composer with the orchestra at the time.
Aled Wyn Davies is a classical tenor from Llanbrynmair, in Powys, Mid Wales. He is a member of the Three Welsh Tenors with Rhys Meirion and Aled Hall.
The National Youth Orchestra of Wales is the national youth orchestra of Wales, based in Cardiff. Founded in 1945, it is the longest-standing national youth orchestra in the world.
This is a summary of 2007 in music in the United Kingdom.
The Urdd National Eisteddfod is an annual Welsh-language youth festival of literature, music and performing arts organised by Urdd Gobaith Cymru. It is the youth counterpart to the National Eisteddfod of Wales. Arguably Europe's largest youth festival, it is usually held during the last week of May, coinciding with schools' half term holiday. Locations alternate between north and south Wales. The Eisteddfod consists of competitive singing, recitation, art, composition, dance and instrumental events for contestants aged between 7 and 24 years. Regional qualifying heats are held in advance around Wales.
Edward Charles Wright is a British composer known largely for electronic and mixed media sound art.
Myrddin ap Dafydd is a Welsh writer, publisher and chaired bard. In 2018 he was elected Archdruid of Wales.
This article is about the particular significance of the year 2014 to Wales and its people.
The Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes is a composition for symphonic orchestra, based on traditional Welsh nursery tunes and lullabies, composed by Grace Williams in 1940. Although not typical of Williams' work it brought her to prominence and is the composer's most popular work.
I had a thorough grounding in Welsh airs and Welsh folk songs when I was a child and teenager, and they found their way into some very early works, now withdrawn, and of course into the Fantasia.
Gareth Finlay Williams was a Welsh language author who wrote novels for children and adults, as well as creating many television drama series.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
