Penillion (1998)

Penillion is a form of extemporized singing known only in Wales. The singer improvises a sort of counterpoint while a harpist plays several stanzas of a well-known melody. The singer only states the melody at the end.

I have adapted this idea to make a set of variations on the Welsh tune Gwenllian’s Repose; incorporating, as well as the idea of singing, imagined sounds of the ‘crwth’ – an ancient Welsh fiddle, now extinct.

Penillion was commissioned by Heather Gibbard and dedicated to her niece, the viola player Rebecca Mair Jones on the occasion of her 18th birthday (22nd July 1998).