Penillion - Viola Unaccompanied

Penillion is a form of extemporized singing known only in Wales. The singer improvises a sort of counterpoint while a harpist plays several stanzas of a well-known melody. The singer only states the melody at the end.

Sally Beamish adaped this idea to make a set of variations on the Welsh tune Gwenllian's Repose; incorporating, as well as the idea of singing, imagined sounds of the 'crwth' - an ancient Welsh fiddle, now extinct.

For unaccompanied viola.