To Ann Lloyd-Jones, in memoriam

The word means breath in Welsh, but it also carries another meaning, that of inspiration. I take its literal meaning first, that of the two movements of the breath — inhalation/exhalation, and then its more figurative, metaphorical one, that of spiritual inspiration or of the artist.

The breath comes from the two instruments used in the piece. Starting with the cornemuse: the recordings of a Scottish cornemuse in B-flat were made in 1998 for Clair de terre (1999). And then there is the pibgorn, a Welsh wind instrument, recorded during a residency in Bangor (Wales, UK) in 2008.

Lastly we come to the breath of the gods, those that sweep the Welsh coast with their winds and intense storms. I wanted to anchor this piece in the fertile land that is Wales, which gave birth to this work.

Ann Lloyd-Jones, who was in charge of the Parry Williams Visiting Composer Fellowship, unfortunately passed away a few weeks before the premiere.

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Anadliad was realized in 2010 at the composer’s studio and premiered on November 4, 2010 in Powis Hall, Bangor University (Wales, UK). It was commissioned by the Bangor University (Wales, UK) with the support from the Parry Williams Visiting Composer Fellowship. Thanks to Éric Mercier, cornemuse; Stephen Rees, pibgorn.

Premiere

• November 4, 2010, 20 Years of empreintes DIGITALes: Robert Normandeau, Dominique Bassal, Neuadd Powis — Bangor University, Bangor (Wales, UK)
• July 3, 2015, Premiere of the multichannel fixed medium (Klangdom): Immersive Sound, Riksscenen — Schous Kulturbryggeri, Oslo (Norway)