St David's Day

Part of the restored Shrine of St David in St David's Cathedral

Almighty God, who in love towards thy people 

called thy servant David 

to be a faithful and wise steward of thy mysteries: 

mercifully grant that, following his purity of life 

and zeal for the whole Gospel of Christ, 

we may with him receive thy heavenly reward; 

through Jesus Christ our Lord, 

to whom with thee and the Holy Spirit 

be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.

Some music for St David's Day:
In celebration, Jubilate Deo by William Mathias: sung on this video by the Choir of Somerville College, Oxford in the Basilica San Marco in Milan.





And, in a markedly different and more reflective mood,  Buried Light,  music by contemporary Welsh composer, & friend, Christopher Painter:



'Buried Light is an Adagio & Rondo which takes as its starting point Vernon Watkins’ poem of the same name .....I have long been an admirer of Watkins’ work and have written several works either based on or setting his poetry and his choice of subject matter – the landscape of Wales, the elements, loss, longing and rebirth all have a very personal resonance for me.  
Also, the idea of light has an important place in my work and I am fascinated by the various moods created by it – the vibrant colours of the fields in France, diffused light shining through the trees on the roads in Somerset, the sun shining through the bands of rain in the Welsh valleys, the warm shades of dawn and the mystical feeling of twilight. ....'The first movement is an elegy for the lost light which  as now “gone to ground” whilst the much faster, virtuosic, Rondo celebrates the soul “Flying from its wrist of shade.” 


"What are the light and wind to me? 
The lamp I love is gone to ground. 
There all the thunder of the sea 
Becomes by contrast idle sound. 

Come, breath, instruct this angry wind 
To listen here where men have prayed, 
That the bold landscape of the mind 
Fly nobler from its wrist of shade."