Even the swallows, flitting high in the gathering dusk, seemed to agree. This was music to send the soul soaring. Yes, it rained. But this is the Tywi Valley in mid June. And any artist familiar with the stunning Aberglasney Gardens knows that to make a watercolour you first need water.
This was billed as a celebration concert to mark the creation of the University of Wales Trinity St David. But it was much, much more. It celebrated our greatest Welsh singer, our most popular tenor and one of the brightest stars in Welsh music. Indeed, Eilir Owen Griffiths, as chorus master and composer, very nearly upstaged Messrs Terfel and Evans.
For this is a musician at the top of his game who handles not one but three choirs, Cor y Drindod Dewi Sant, CF1 and Cor Gorde’r Garth. The evening saw the world premiere of his Requiem, with words by award-winning Welsh bard Meredid Hopwood. With references to some of our greatest hymn tunes, this was a work which should elevate Eilir Owen Griffiths into the public consciousness.
Filled with passion and emotion, the Requiem tugged on the heart-strings on a night when the Aberglasney faithful were told that one of the garden’s trustees, Brian McSweeney, had died. The emotions were stirred further by a triumphal performance of O Beata Trinitas, a work commissioned from our greatest living composer, Karl Jenkins, to celebrate Carmarthen’s Trinity College gaining university status in 2009. The massed ranks of the three choirs and the orchestra took centre stage for a while, weaving rich textures and harmonies for the 1,500 audience at the Aberglasney Gardens. But boys will be boys and it was the two guys who provided the showpiece moments from a memorable evening.
Wynne Evans always revels in his rendition of his mum’s favourite, Gweddi’r Arglwydd. And, he had the audience on their feet for his Nessum Dorma. Bryn Terfel’s set saw his first public performance of Anfonaf Angel, a work dedicated to the Wales Air Ambulance Service and with words by celebrated Welsh broadcaster Hywel Gwynfryn.
Terfel’s Te Deum from Tosca was a taster for what Covent Garden will hear in a week or two, while his Stars from Les Miserable was perfectly timed for that sunset moment at Aberglasney. The bass baritone legend and the tenor had combined during the Eilir Owen Griffiths Requiem, but they were brought back for the stunning duet from Bizet’s Pearl Fishers, Au fond du temple.
The audience demanded more – and they got it with an encore of Granada, which featured two of the finest pieces of Welsh beef battling it out in bullfighting style on stage. The concert was recorded by S4C and will be broadcast soon.
