Maggini Quartet - Hughes: String Quartets Nos. 1, 2 & 3 (2023) [Official Digital Download 24/192]

The Welsh composer Arwel Hughes (1909-88) played many different roles in what E.T.Davies – the first Director of Music at Bangor University – termed the ‘new musical awakening’ in Wales during the 20th century. Arwel Hughes was born in Rhosllanerchrugog, North Wales, the youngest of 10 children from a coal miner’s family. He went to Ruabon Grammar School (founded in 1618) and was influenced by an older brother, John Hughes (1896-1968), a notable composer of hymn tunes and Editor of the Baptist Hymnal who arranged for his younger brother to have organ lessons at Chester Cathedral. Hughes won a Blumenthal scholarship to enter the Royal College of Music, London to study composition with Ralph Vaughan Williams and C.H. Kitson as well as the organ and conducting. After graduating from the RCM and becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, he was an Assistant Organist at St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster before moving to become organist at St Phillips and St. James Church in Oxford. In 1935, Arwel Hughes joined the staff of the new BBC Wales Music Department and used his links with the BBC Welsh Orchestra and position as Head of Music (1965-1971) to tirelessly champion performances and broadcasts of Welsh music, including works by fellow pioneers Grace Williams (1906-77), Mansel Thomas (1909-86), Daniel Jones (1912-93), William Mathias (1934-92) and Alun Hoddinott (1929-2008).

Hughes composed two operas (Menna, 1954 and Serch yw’r Doctor, 1960), a series of orchestral works, and many songs and folksong arrangements. His choral music – particularly his oratorios (Dewi Sant, 1950 and Pantycelyn, 1963) – has a particular appeal for performers and audiences, but there remain less well-lit genres in his output. Relatively little is known about his chamber music, and the three previously unrecorded String Quartets on this CD make a significant contribution towards filling that void. Although these Quartets were composed at different times in Hughes’ career, each one reveals, in a different way, his fascination with thematic interconnections, musical contrasts and musical form. Surveyed collectively, these works also suggest that Hughes may have found the string quartet to be an ideal medium for exploring new musical territory.

TRACKLIST

01. String Quartet No. 1: I. Allegro giocoso
02. String Quartet No. 1: II. Andante
03. String Quartet No. 1: III. Allegro giocoso
04. String Quartet No. 2: I. Lento moderato. Allegro
05. String Quartet No. 2: II. Allegro Giocoso
06. String Quartet No. 2: III. Adagio
07. String Quartet No. 2: IV. Presto
08. String Quartet No. 3: I. Piu Lento
09. String Quartet No. 3: II. Andante
10. String Quartet No. 3: III. Andante moderato. Allegro con brio



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