Programme Note
This short work for cello and piano is one of a suite of pieces entitled TRANSPORTS which I wrote inspired by and to be performed in the presence of paintings by the Welsh artist Catrin Webster.
TRANSPORTS began life as part of a performance at the Galeria Comunale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome. As the collaboration developed several new pieces were added to the suite and Ynys Las (Blue Island) Nocturne was commissioned by Myles Pepper for the West Wales Arts Centre in Fishguard where it received its premiere.
Two main strands are apparent to me in Catrin’s work The first of these is apparent in the very large abstract paintings, broadly internationalist in outlook and influenced by Catrin’s time in Italy. The second strand is more intimate reflecting her connection with the Welsh landscape and with journeying in Wales. It was the second of these that influenced this piece and specifically her painting of the same name which is characterised, as the music is, by rich, dark-hued colours.
Ynys Las has subsequently been recorded by Nicola Thomas (cello) and Iwan Llewelyn Jones (piano) and the recording was made available both on the Countryside Commission for Wales website and at the visitor centre at Ynys Las itself.