Length / Year
20' / 2000

Instrumentation
cl/vln/vc/pfte

Performance History
Preview performance
Galeria Communale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Roma
3rd December 1999
Icarus Ensemble

First performance
Aberystwyth Arts Centre
27th July 2000
Andrez Grabec - violin
David Campbell - clarinet
Nicholas Jones - cello
Nicholas Oliver - piano

US premiere
Angel Orensanz Foundation, New York
25th, 26th, 28th October 2001
Musica Experimento Roma
Enrico Cocco - director
Part of 'Different Lights' performance for 'UK in NY Festival'

Subsequent performances
Vale of Glamorgan Festival
8th & 9th September 2000
Icarus Ensemble

Grand Theatre, Swansea
12th September 2000
Icarus Ensemble

Performances of Ynys Las (Blue Island) - Nocturne from Transports
National Library of Australia, Canberra
29th October 2000
David Pereira - cello
Suzanne Powell - piano

West Wales Arts Centre, Fishguard
3rd January 2001
Gerald Peregrine - cello
Deborah Kelleher - piano

Theatr Seilo, Caernarfon
4th March 2001
Members of BBC National Orchestra of Wales

National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
22nd June 2001
Nicola Thomas - cello
Stephen Pilkington - piano

Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon, Wales
12th September 2001
David Pereira - cello
Ian Munro - piano

Theatr Ardudwy, Harlech, Wales
13th September 2001
David Pereira - cello
Ian Munro - piano

Pontardawe Arts Centre, Pontardawe, Wales
14th September 2001
David Pereira - cello
Ian Munro - piano

West Wales Arts Centre, Fishguard, Wales
29th September 2001
Nicola Thomas - cello
Iwan Llewelyn Jones - piano

Neuadd Dwyfor, Pwllheli, Wales
29th May 2002
Ensemble Cymru
Heather Bills - cello

Llandudno Festival
17th June 2002
Ensemble Cymru
Heather Bills - cello

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Programme Note
I had a phone call one day out of the blue. It was a fellow artist, the photographer Graham Mathews. He knew of my work and suggested a collaboration between myself and the visual artist Catrin Webster to mount a performance at the new Galeria Comunale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome. At this point I did not know Catrin's work but I was soon able to visit her studio and attend a couple of exhibitions. What was apparent was creative work of immense vitality and profusion.

Two main strands quickly emerged. The first of these was apparent in the very large abstract paintings, broadly internationalist in outlook and influenced by Catrin's time in Italy. The second strand was more intimate reflecting her connection with the Welsh landscape and with journeying in Wales. Both were a rich source of inspiration for this project.

There was little preparation time before the planned performance in Rome in December 1999 and only two movements of TRANSPORTS were given, under workshop circumstances. In early 2000 I completed the work and it presently comprises four movements as follows :

VENICE : DIPTYCH 1 & 2 / YNYS LAS (BLUE ISLAND) - NOCTURNE / WALKING / MAPPING

The first two are inspired by specific paintings. The third is an evocation of Catrin's journeying in Wales - a Celtic "Songlines" The fourth is the short series of diatonic chords on which the entire piece is based. It is a map of the piece, the innocent eye which observes or ear that hears.

A number of organisations jointly provided funds to commission the work :

- Arts Council of Wales
- Swansea Festival Patrons' Association
- Friends of the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
- West Wales Arts Centre, Fishguard

Thank you to all of them.

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