Arwel Hughes: Oratorio Dewi Sant

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Some bars indeed suggest watered-down Handel. Yet none of that stops the oratorio being craf tsmanlike and immediately expressive, and most of Owain Arwel Hughes’s forces attack it with vim...It... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2023, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 8th Sep 2023
Catalogue No: RCD1100
Label: Rubicon
Length: 73 minutes

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Hughes, A: Dewi Sant (St. David)

Work length1:13:43

$12.30

$14.95

$18.40

Susan Bullock (soprano), Paul Carey jones (bass-baritone), Rhodri Prys-Jones (tenor)
Chorus of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Owain Arwel Hughes

Chorus. Molwn Di

Track length6:34

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

Soprano. pwy ddaw gryman I'r meysydd gwyn?

Track length14:26

$2.15

$2.60

$3.20

Baritone. Bwya, fy mab, paham y mynni watward Duw

Track length10:13

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

Female Chorus. O dyred, Dewi, I Wlad goleuni

Track length7:53

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

Tenor. Y dydd Sul hwnnw Y canod Dewi offeren

Track length13:37

$2.15

$2.60

$3.20

Tenor. O Ddydd Sul hyd Ddydd Mercher

Track length8:40

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

Tenor. Kyrie eleison

Track length12:20

$2.15

$2.60

$3.20

About
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About

Arwel Hughes (1909-1988) was the tenth son of a Welsh coal miner, and his progress through life was a remarkable one.  Along the way, he studied composition at the Royal College of Music, where his tutors were Gordon Jacob, Gustav Holst and, importantly, Vaughan Williams.

During WWII, he worked for the BBC, becoming Head of Music for BBC Wales. He actively encouraged and supported the music of his Welsh contemporaries who included Daniel Jones, Grace Williams, Alun Hoddinott and William Mathias.

Arwel Hughes composed a symphony, two operas, three string quartets, a mass, much choral music and shorter orchestral pieces.

The oratorio Dewi Sant (Saint David) was composed for the festival of Britain in 1951 as the main Welsh contribution. The text was written by his friend and colleague at the BBC, Aneurin Talfan Davies. The text is based on the life of the patron saint of Wales, David (c520 - 588AD). Davies drew inspiration from the 11th century Latin Vita by Rhygyfarch, who was the son of a Bishop of St David’s.

The sound world of the oratorio has flashes of Wagner and Vaughan Williams, and, similar the latter composer, never loses sight of the fact that this music should be performed by amateur performers as well as professional choruses and orchestras. It is a work of great skill and is both melodious and dramatic.

This recording, conducted by the composer’s son, is the first recording in the original Welsh.

Reviews

November 2023

Some bars indeed suggest watered-down Handel. Yet none of that stops the oratorio being craf tsmanlike and immediately expressive, and most of Owain Arwel Hughes’s forces attack it with vim...It is good to finally have a recording of such a communicative, warm-hearted and uniquely Welsh work.

November 2023

Thoroughly professional in its execution, instrumentation and handling of structure, Dewi Sant may seem old-fashioned, even anachronistic...but there are shards of a later modernism in the harmony which, at various points, clearly locate it in the 20th century.

Arwel Hughes: Oratorio Dewi Sant

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