These Visions
Gwyneth Lewis’s words that emblazon the façade of the Wales Millennium Centre express not only a confidence for the future of the arts in Wales, but also a quiet optimism for their present good health. Certainly for composers working in Wales there are now a multitude of possibilities, collaborations and different media in which they can work: possibilities undreamt of thirty years ago. One such development are young professional groups of musicians such as Lunar Saxophone Quartet, three of whose members trained in Cardiff (at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama) and now lead busy careers both in Wales (under the auspices of the Live Music Now, Cymru / Wales scheme) and London. Working with a line-up of four saxophones means that commissioning new scores and good arrangements of pre-existing material represents the life-blood of the group’s repertoire.

There is no fallback position into the repertoire of the past. Taking as their motto the words of Shakespeare which stand at the top of Mark David Boden’s piece on this disc, the lsq have worked for several years to bring to fruition a project that combines the music of some of Wales’s youngest and most gifted composers with that of more established figures such as John Metcalf, Hilary Tann and Christopher Painter. With the exception of Mark David Boden’s piece (which was still composed for lsq), all the works on this disc were written both for a Welsh tour in the autumn of 2010 and for inclusion on the present disc. Working and collaborating with all the composers on this disc is integral to the scheme. Indeed, Hilary Tann has written elsewhere that, “it’s so important for composers to work with performers – especially with performers as outgoing and receptive as the members of the lsq. It’s also a reason why composers should plan to come to “early” rehearsals. These are more important than last rehearsals and concerts. It’s when the music gets done!”