Rhos Male Voice Choir -- Music From The Welsh Mines 1957

The Rhos Male Voice Choir, recorded 4 May 1957 in St. Mark's Church, St. Johns Wood, London; conducted by Edward Jones, with John Tudor Davies, organ; issued on a Delyse Recording Company long-play disc, number ECB3142. The selections presented here are-- 1) Llef, a hymn in which the poet asks for the strength of Jesus to guide him through the wilderness; 2) Ar Doriad Dydd, a song that begins with the lover meeting his beloved at dawn, full of life and joy, but ends with the lover bewailing the death of his beloved; 3) Laudamus (Bryn Calfaria), a hymn of praise to the sacrifice of the cross, the blood making conquerors of the weak and overcoming the might of giants. Rhos is short for Rhosllannerchrugog, the Heath of Heathery Moorland, having a population then of approximately 11,000, almost entirely Welsh-speaking. The members of the Choir embody two traditions generally associated with Wales-- mining and singing. Singing in the Land of Song was already a distinctive tradition 900 years ago. Giraldus Cambrensis-- Gerald of Wales-- writing during the twelfth century about Welsh music, says, "In their musical concerts they do not sing in unison like the inhabitants of other countries, but in many different parts; so that in a company of singers, which one very frequently meets with in Wales, you will hear as many different parts and voices as there are performers, who will at length unite, with organic melody, in one consonance.... And what is still more wonderful, the children, even from their infancy, sing in the same manner." Many adjectives can be applied to a performance such as presented here, but a single adjective seems most appropriate-- magnificent.