Music Web International: "If there is a Cambrian folk aspect to any of the music on this disc it must be deeply subsumed. I do not detect any heart-on-sleeve use of traditional songs. What is clear is that this is the work of a most accomplished modern romantic-nationalist".
Owain Arwel Hughes conducts the renowned Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a tribute to his father Arwel Hughes, the Welsh composer and radio broadcaster. A student of Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst, Hughes early on began to work for the BBC, leaving him with limited opportunity to compose himself. He is perhaps best remembered for his music for chorus and orchestra, including a couple of large-scale oratorios. This CD focuses on his œuvre for orchestra, presenting a large part of it: from Anatiomaros (1943) to the 'legend' Owain Glyndwr (1979). Both of these works – as well as others on the disc – are grounded in Welsh history and culture, of which Hughes was an eager proponent. He composed two of the first Welsh operas – Menna, a tragedy based on a Welsh folktale with libretto in English, as well as Serch yw’r Doctor, an adaptation of Molière's comedy L'amour médécin – but was also, in his roles as a broadcaster and conductor, an untiring champion of his fellow Welsh composers. His son, Owain Arwel Hughes, is a renowned conductor who for BIS has recorded acclaimed cycles of the complete symphonies and concertos by Vagn Holmboe. His recordings of Rachmaninov’s symphonies have also been warmly received, with the French magazine Répertoire calling it 'the great modern Rachmaninov cycle' and International Record Review remarking on the 'exquisite refinement' of the interpretation.
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