Kenneth Bowen - Mae Hiraeth Yn Y Mor

A surprise album for renowned Welsh tenor and conductor at his last concert! It is a collection of Welsh songs taken from the early recordings of Kenneth Bowen, and was presented to him during a recent farewell concert with the London Welsh Chorale. The CD was compiled by his son, Meurig Bowen who is a writer on music, and Director of the Cheltenham Music Festival. He writes, I hope this recording will be enjoyed for what I believe - objectively - it is: some damn fine singing, robust, sensitive, thrilling, sincere and from a warm Welsh heart. When I studied singing with Kenneth Bowen at the Royal Academy of Music in the early '90s, he'd already been retired as a singer for a few years. So it's a real pleasure to hear these recordings, made in his prime and way before I started singing myself as a chorister in Bangor. My first album featured Dilys Elwyn-Edwards' 'Caneuon y tri aderyn' - so it's fantastic to hear Ken singing them here. Dilys wrote these lovely songs for him back in 1961, and especially in 'Mae Hiraeth yn y M�r', I think you can hear a song perfectly suited to the soaring warmth of his voice. - Aled Jones