Compositions

A Sad Pavan Forbidding Mourning is dedicated to the memory of amateur Welsh naturalist, Gruffydd Llewellyn. Over the course of the piece, the mood changes from one of grief to one of hope. Embedded within the Pavan are three successive references to A Sad Pavan for These Distracted Tymes, composed by Thomas Tomkins in 1649, a fortnight after the execution of Charles I. – HT

Performed here by Gerard Cousins, guitar. (Audio is the beginning.)

Recording: CD Baby HIRAETH

Doppelgänger explores the potential for rapprochement between two contrasting "characters". During the course of the six-minute piece, an opening formal, bravura persona gradually metamorphoses into its gentler, more lyrical counterpart. – HT

Doppelgänger was composed in 1984 for pianist Pola Baytelman who subsequently recorded the work on CD (Capstone Records CPS 8606 CD).

Recordings: Centaur Records MUSICAL LANDSCAPES OF HILARY TANN; SCI CDs VIEW FROM THE KEYBOARD

Embertides consists of four separate movements that take their inspiration from the roughly equal divisions of the church year – Advent, Lent, Whitsun, Michaelmas. These divisions in turn pay homage to earlier, secular traditions – Winter (seeding), Spring (awakening), Summer (harvesting), Autumn (vintage). The cycle is unified by references to verses from the 11th-century plainsong sequence ‘Veni Sancte Spiritus’; in addition, each piece contains hints of hymns appropriate to each season. The work may be performed as a concert suite or individual movements may be used separately within church services.

The composer is grateful to Alfred V. Fedak (Albany, NY) for his thoughtful, professional assistance in selecting appropriate organ registrations.

Duration: whole suite 15 minutes. Advent: 3′20″ Lenten 3′40″, Whit 3′40″, Michaelmas 4′00″.

Embertides was first performed at the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists, 24-7 June 2014, Boston, MA.

Kilvert’s Hills takes its inspiration from a journal entry by the Rev. Francis Kilvert, Whitsun Monday, 29 May, Oakapple Day, 1871 when he wrote of the Black Mountains (in South Wales) -- "I made a pilgrimage to the place today ... it is a fine thing to be out on the hills alone. A man can hardly be a beast or a fool alone on a great mountain. There is no company like the grand solemn beautiful hills. They fascinate and grow upon us and one had a feeling and a love for them which one has for nothing else.” It is meditative in nature and ends with a homage to the chant “O Deus” by Hildegard von Bingen. – HT

The piece was commissioned by the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company with funds provided by the New York State Council on the Arts.

Performed here by Krassimir Ivanov, bassoon. (Audio excerpt is the beginning.) Revised for cello solo, 2012.

Recordings: Centaur Records MUSICAL LANDSCAPES OF HILARY TANN; Beauport Classical METAMORPHOSIS

Light from The Cliffs was written early in 2005 in response to a request from the composer's colleague and friend, Max Lifchitz. For some time I’ve wanted to write a slow movement for piano somewhere between a Chopin Nocturne and a Schubert Impromptu and I thank Max for giving me this opportunity. Light from The Cliffs develops ideas from an earlier violin concerto, Here, The Cliffs (1997) – the cliffs in question being those of a mountain range (Craig Cerrig-gleisiad) near my first home in Wales. In the earlier program note I wrote, “the image is sometimes one of brightness and fragility as sunlight is captured and reflected within the curve of the rock face; at other times, the image is one of mystery and great sadness as low, dense mists curl downwards over the uppermost rim and earth merges with sky.” These two images alternate in an unashamedly romantic tone poem. – HT

Performed here by Max Lifchitz, piano. (Audio excerpt is the beginning.)

Recordings: Centaur Records MUSICAL LANDSCAPES OF HILARY TANN; North/South Recordings AMERICAN WOMEN COMPOSERS; Albany Records ENDANGERED

Like Lightnings was composed during June 2004 in response to a request from Jinny Shaw for the Cambridge Summer Music Festival. The title is taken from the poem, “Spring”, by Gerard Manley Hopkins – “and thrush/ Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring/ The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing.” Subtitled “pastoral”, the piece moves from birdsong, to song, to birdsong. – HT

Performed here by Virginia Shaw, oboe. (Audio excerpt is the beginning.)

Recording: Beauport Classical METAMORPHOSIS

Look Little Low Heavens was composed during December 1992 in response to a commission from Cathy leach, to whom the work is dedicated. The title is excerpted from the poem, “Spring” by Gerard Manley Hopkins. The text reads, in part: “Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush/Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring/The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing.” The piece follows the arch shape suggested by “low heavens” as two flanking meditative sections surround a central, soaring fanfare. – HT

Recording: MSR Classics STORIES FOR OUR TIME

The inspiration for this joyous organ piece is the Vulgate phrase "Qui ambulas super pinnas ventorum" translated as "who walketh upon the wings of the wind" (Psalm 104:3). The "wings of the wind" is a phrase of praise which suggests other abstract methods of praise which occur in the piece-bells and hymns.
This short work is suitable for church or concert performance. Registrations by Carson Cooman.

Seven Poems of Stillness for violoncello solo with poems by R. S. Thomas was composed in response to a request from Dr. Rhian Davies, Artistic Director of the Gŵyl Gregynog Festival, to whom the work is dedicated. The work was written to be premièred at Manafon Church, where poet R. S. Thomas was Rector, on the occasion of the centennial of his birth. In this continuous cycle, (c. 16 minutes without narrator, c. 24 with optional narrator) each of the seven poems presents an aspect of the poet’s relationship to God. The movement titles are evocative and are taken from the following poems:

I. “the air / a staircase for silence” (Kneeling)
II. “the great brush has not rested” (The View from the Window)
III. “like some huge moth out of the darkness” (The Empty Church)
IV. “as the interior of a cathedral” (The Moorland)
V. “Bright Field / lit bush” (The Bright Field)
VI. “the possibility of your presence” (Cones)
VII. “nights that are so still” (The Other)

The central slow movement contains echoes of the Welsh hymn Llef (IV). The faster movements, II and V, suggest stillness at the center of a spinning motion 'renewed daily' (II), 'the stars themselves gyring down … the cone’s point toward towards which we soar' (V). The darkest movement is III, paralleling the poem The Empty Church. Movements I and VI are poems of spiritual listening. Reflecting the sentiment of R. S. Thomas’ poem The Other, the final movement (VII) evokes 'wave on wave on the long shore'. © Hilary Tann

Recording: Ty Cerdd SEVEN POEMS OF STILLNESS

A cresset stone is a medieval method of lighting – a hollowed-out stone, filled with oil, with a lighted wick. Near the composer’s home in Ferndale, Wales, the ancient cathedral at Brecon contains a remarkable example of such a stone. It was this stone, in its stone cathedral context, which directly inspired the composition. The Cresset Stone is a meditation on stone and light which begins and ends in stillness. The inner sections contain references to the final Kyrie of an eleventh-century Gregorian chant. – HT

The Cresset Stone was composed during December 1993, in response to a commission from the Presteigne Festival, director George Vass, with funds from the Welsh Arts Council and Amadeus Stringed Instruments. It was first performed September 2, 1994, by Krzysztof Smietana at the 1994 Presteigne Festival.

Performed here by Francoise Groben, cello. Alternate versions are available for solo violin, or solo viola. (Audio excerpt is the beginning.)

Recording: Profil GARDENS OF ANNA MARIA LUISA DE MEDICI

A cresset stone is a medieval method of lighting – a hollowed-out stone, filled with oil, with a lighted wick. Near the composer’s home in Ferndale, Wales, the ancient cathedral at Brecon contains a remarkable example of such a stone. It was this stone, in its stone cathedral context, which directly inspired the composition. The Cresset Stone is a meditation on stone and light which begins and ends in stillness. The inner sections contain references to the final Kyrie of an eleventh-century Gregorian chant. – HT

The Cresset Stone was composed during December 1993, in response to a commission from the Presteigne Festival, director George Vass, with funds from the Welsh Arts Council and Amadeus Stringed Instruments. It was first performed September 2, 1994, by Krzysztof Smietana at the 1994 Presteigne Festival.

This version for viola is performed by Matthew Jones, viola. Alternate versions are available for solo violin, or solo cello. (Audio excerpt is the beginning.)

Recordings: Deux-Elles SONGS OF THE COTTON GRASS; Centaur Records ODYSSEY – New Music for Viola

A cresset stone is a medieval method of lighting – a hollowed-out stone, filled with oil, with a lighted wick. Near the composer’s home in Ferndale, Wales, the ancient cathedral at Brecon contains a remarkable example of such a stone. It was this stone, in its stone cathedral context, which directly inspired the composition. The Cresset Stone is a meditation on stone and light which begins and ends in stillness. The inner sections contain references to the final Kyrie of an eleventh-century Gregorian chant. – HT

The Cresset Stone was composed during December 1993, in response to a commission from the Presteigne Festival, director George Vass, with funds from the Welsh Arts Council and Amadeus Stringed Instruments. It was first performed September 2, 1994, by Krzysztof Smietana at the 1994 Presteigne Festival.

This version is performed by Alan Smale, violin. Alternate versions are available for solo viola, or solo cello. (Audio excerpt is the beginning.)

Recordings: Centaur Records MUSICAL LANDSCAPES OF HILARY TANN; Capstone Records CELTIC CONNECTIONS

Windhover is based on the idea of flight from a falcon's point of view. Sections of slow soaring, where strength and detailed focus predominate, alternate with swifter sections, where the blurring of the rush of flight takes over. – HT

Windhover was composed for solo soprano saxophone in 1985. It has been recorded for flute on Capstone Records (CPS-8664).

Flute version performed here by Christianne Meininger, flute. (Audio excerpt is the beginning.)

Recordings: Arizona University Recordings OF ERTHE AND AIR; Albany Records DRAGON; Capstone NIGHT THOUGHTS AND FANCIES; Profil GARDENS OF ANNA MARIA LUISA DE MEDICI; CD Baby IMAGES OF EVE