Cysgodion Bywiog [String Trio, 2025]

Details

String Trio [Violin, Viola, Cello]

2025

9'

About this work

‘Cysgodion Bywiog’ (‘Living Spirits’) was written in response to Islwyn Ffowc Elis’s novel ‘Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd’ (1957). The work takes fragments from Welsh folk songs and reimagines them through the lens of memory, of a language in danger of being lost, and a nation with a deep connection to music and song.

In ‘Cysgodion Bywiog’ melodic fragments appear throughout the piece that are derived from the traditional Welsh folksongs ‘Min y Môr’ and ‘Llanover Reel’ – both referenced in the novel – in descriptions of the rich cultural life in a utopian version of Future Wales. They appear half-formed and distorted, disappearing as quickly as they appear, remembered and reimagined. The texture moves between quiet, simple lines – reflective of the isolated nature of the elderly woman – and moments of warm, energetic joyful folk rhythms, indicative of the power of memory and music, and the importance of folk traditions to Welsh cultural identity.

This piece is a protest and a fragile dream: That in the face of forgetting, an echo of a song awakens something deep within, and something shared, in the hope of a better future.

‘Cysgodion Bywiog’ was developed through the Medal y Cyfansoddwr pathway between the National Eisteddfod and Tŷ Cerdd, in partnership with Sinfonia Cymru and the Welsh Music Guild. The work won the Medal y Cyfansoddwr at the National Eisteddfod (Wrecsam) 2025.

-------

This listing is for a PDF download of the Full Score and/or Parts only. Please use the contact box if you'd like to order a printed and bound score.