Opus Anglicanum have commissioned a third work from Owain, a Fantasia on musical references contained in David Jones’ In Parenthesis. The work is a 12-minute sequence, utilising five voices in addition to a narrator.
The poet’s voice is that of Jones himself, ‘Private 25201 Ball’, who combines a running commentary on the action entwined in a fragmentary dream like way with his own thoughts. Owain’s Fantasia brings together snatches of tunes referred to by David Jones in the course of the poem, including Welsh and English songs and hymns, music hall and soldiers trench songs.
The two other works commissioned by Opus Anglicanum are Fantasia on English Children’s Songs and On the Infancy of our Saviour. The Gesualdo Six recently toured these two works around the UK.
Find out more about Opus Anglicanum here: http://www.opus-anglicanum.com.
