Prior to the opening of our Swansea Season proper in December, we will be making two trips to the newly-refurbished Brangwyn Hall as part of the Swansea Festival of Music and the Arts this October.
The first of these visits (on Saturday 11 October) will also see the orchestra continuing its year-long celebration of the life, work and influence of Dylan Thomas as we perform John Corigliano's 'A Dylan Thomas Trilogy'.
This is a large-scale work for orchestra, chorus, and a number of soloists. We are delighted not only to be joined by our own BBC National Chorus of Wales, but also by the BBC Singers who are celebrating their 90th anniversary this season!
Now, it may seem like an odd tribute to have a New Yorker make the major contribution to this programme. However, I think it is an excellent example of how far-reaching Thomas' influence as a poet was, and remains to this day. Many of our audience will, perhaps unwittingly, be very much aware of John Corigliano through his film scores - in particular the score for The Red Violin, performed for the film by Joshua Bell.
John Corigliano
Corigliano discovered the work of Dylan Thomas while still a student, and so began an unending love affair with the Welshman's writing. On his website, Corigliano talks about the musicality of Thomas' language. This is something that I very much hear myself, and I think it is characteristic of the Welsh tongue in general - the rises and falls, the lilts and the lulls of each nuance found in the spoken word. Perhaps I only notice this in contrast to my own rather guttural Northern Irish tones!
John Corigliano A Dylan Thomas Trilogy (1976 - revised in 1999) - an oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra. Originally considered to be a work for soloists, chorus and orchestra based on a sacred text (think Handel's Messiah, Mendelssohn's Elijah, etc), in recent years, the nature of the oratorio has changed somewhat.
Nowadays, an oratorio can be based on any writing whether sacred or secular, although it remains different from opera in that there is no acting involved, and little or no costume or set. Perhaps, it is more the case that today the texts or subjects used are those personally sacred to the composer, for example Schnittke's 'Nagasaki', Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio, or Richard Einhorn's The Origin, based on the writings of Charles Darwin.
The work is drawn from three poems – Fern Hill, Poem in October and Poem on his Birthday – and the work is drawn together by Author's Prologue. You might find it interesting to familiarise yourself with these poems before the concert, although I'm sure the music will speak for itself.
Dylan Thomas recording at the BBC in 1948
We have a stellar line up of soloists to bring to our Swansea audience. A Dylan Thomas Trilogy has an air of 'the ages of man' and this is reflected in the voices. We will be joined by treble, Michael d'Avanzo, a chorister at Hereford Cathedral, my fellow country man, the wonderful Robin Tritschler (tenor) who is a current BBC New Generation Artist, and by one of my favourite baritones, Roderick Williams. You may have spotted him on the Last Night of the Proms from the Royal Albert Hall with our BBC Symphony Orchestra colleagues - what a voice!
It is always a pleasure to return to Swansea; the warmth of welcome the orchestra receives there is wonderful. We return to the Swansea Festival on the 17 October for a family concert that is also part of the UK-wide Family Arts Festival. Now that we are back in the Brangwyn, I personally shall also be returning to my favourite fish and chip shop, and shall be enjoying my whatever-the-weather pre-concert ice cream from a certain ice cream parlour near the hall!
If you would like to hear more oratorio with the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, book your tickets now to hear Elgar's glorious Dream of Gerontius on 7 November at St David's Hall, Cardiff.
BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales perform John Corigliano's A Dylan Thomas Trilogy on Saturday 11 October as part of the Swansea Festival of Music and the Arts – visit the BBC NOW website for more info and for tickets.
