Another Welsh representative, Rhian Samuel is, at present, Professor of Music at the City University in London. Readers will perhaps remember her excellent sequence Tirluniau, which was premiered at the Proms in 2000, with Tadaaki Otaka conducting the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Her Threnody with Fanfares explores the oxymoronic implications of its title. Samuel speaks of the piece being built around "two completely opposed motives: the lament or sigh and the royal fanfare". The fanfare's impersonal grandeur is counterpoised by the sense of personal loss, echoes of the last post being heard more than once. An interesting and rewarding piece.
Glyn Pursglove, musicweb-international.com