“ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF MUSIC” :
THE LONDON WELSH MALE VOICE CHOIR (1902-2002)
Côr Meibion Cymry Llundain

In September 1902 William (Cook) Davies convened a meeting to form the London Welsh Male Voice Choir. Advertisements were placed for choristers and the first practice took place on October 8th in the vestry of Charing Cross Chapel. Choristers had an immediate goal : their hearts and minds were firmly set on competing at the Mountain Ash Eisteddfod to be held six months later. Confidence was almost certainly raised by their newly appointed musical director, the young Merlin Morgan, organist of Charing Cross Chapel, already beginning to make a name for himself in the wider London Welsh circles. One hundred years later, as part of our centenary celebrations, we are delighted to bring together the best of the Choir’s many recordings on this double album.

In 1903 the Choir more than achieved its goal as it won the premier honours at the Mountain Ash Eisteddfod. This naturally brought the Choir to immediate fame, going on to compete at five National Eisteddfodau and other prestigious competitions. Another highlight of the Choir’s early years was to take first prize (and 5000 Francs) in the Paris International Tournament of Music, followed with the winning of the Carmarthen prize in August 1913. On both occasions the Choir was conducted by Ganmor Morgan, who had taken over the baton from his bother Merlin, after the latter’s appointment as Musical Director at Daly’s Theatre in the West End.

The Choir disbanded with the outbreak of World War I and was re-formed in 1920. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Choir had several musical directors, including Idris Lewis, Llewelyn Bevan, Horatio Davies, George Thomas, Elfed I. Morgan and Kenneth Thomas. The Choir again disbanded with the coming of World War II.

The Choir re-formed in 1961, with many of its members having sung in the 1950s in the successful London Welsh Association Youth Choir from which they had to retire at the age of 30 ! Lyn Harry was appointed musical director, with Tudor Spencer Davies succeeding him from 1967 to 1969. John Peleg Williams became musical director in 1969 and is credited with adding “pop music” to the Choir’s conventional male voice repertoire. By far the longest-serving musical director in the Choir’s first one hundred years is Haydn James, who is currently in his twenty fourth year in the post, having been appointed in 1979. During Haydn’s tenure, the choir has continued to have a full and rolling two-year diary of engagements. It has toured many countries in Europe and North America, sung at most of the prestigious concert halls, cathedrals and major sporting arenas in the United Kingdom, and has performed with many orchestras and military bands.

The Recordings :
The Choir made a recording on 2nd December, 1930 for the Crystalate Gramophone Record Company, and made another recording later in the 1930s. However, unfortunately we have been unable to find copies of these recordings. There was also a private recording made at the Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke on 10th May, 1969, when the Choir was conducted by Tudor Spencer Davies.

The first recording on the compilation is one made in 1967 at a South London school hall in Tulse Hill under Lyn Harry, using just two microphones and a reel-to-reel machine. The engineers at the then Qualiton Record Company were nevertheless able to deliver an excellent private recording, and the tracks here are taken from an ‘old’ vinyl LP, rather than from a ‘Master’ tape. New technology has allowed this to be cleaned-up and re-mastered for your enjoyment.

Since that time we have been fortunate, as a London-based choir, in having access to some of the country’s best recording facilities, engineers and producers, and have worked at CTS, Olympic, Air, Portland & RAK Studios with producers of the calibre of Jon Miller, Bob Barratt, Mike Evans and Sir George Martin amongst others. The tracks on this compilation reflect their expertise, as well as the services of gifted piano accompanists such as Audrey Kitchener, Marilyn Phillips and Rosalind Jones.

In the early 1970s the Choir achieved national recognition with its recording of Sloop John B, which had been the theme song of the victorious 1971 British Lions Rugby Team. This was released as a single in 1973 and entered the Top 30 Singles Charts. This led to another single, Remember Then, in 1974 and to the release in 1975 of the ‘Take Me Home’ album on the Phillips/Phonogram label; with this the Choir blazed a trail into the world of ‘pop’ music set for four part male chorus by professional arrangers. The album’s title track, especially written for the occasion, has since become a ‘standard’ in the male choral repertoire. In 1981 the album ‘Songs of the Valleys’ was recorded for K Tel and sold in excess of 100,000 copies, earning the choir a Gold Disc which, we believe, was a first for a male choir.

Some recordings were ‘demos’ for a variety of projects, and on this compilation, you will hear four songs which were never available for general release. Indeed, many members of the Choir have never heard their version of Bright Eyes and Hole in my Shoe, while How Green Was My Valley was recorded as the theme song for a possible new musical based on the novel of the same name. Also included is My Lord, What a Mornin’ recorded ‘live’ at an Eton College concert in 1976.

Over the years, the Choir has been privileged to work with almost all of the nation’s top Military Bands, but we have a very special relationship with The Band of the Welsh Guards, and the opportunity of sharing a recording with them was not to be missed. The result was ‘Sing the Songs of our Homeland’ in 1985, and we are pleased to be able to include some tracks from this splendid EMI recording.

In the late 1980s, the Choir was invited to work with Sir Anthony Hopkins and Sir George Martin on a new recording of the Dylan Thomas classic ‘Under Milk Wood’; this enabled us to join with the late Sir Geraint Evans and record The Rev Eli Jenkins Prayer, Troyte’s Chant, in a special arrangement by Sir George. The choir was thrilled when all three “Knights” accepted invitations to become Vice Presidents of the choir.

In the 1990s, in order to bring the sound of the choir to a Welsh record-buying public, we teamed up with Mike Evans and his Black Mountain Recording Company to produce ‘Rhythm in Red’ (1991) and ‘In Harmony’ (1996). On the former, we experimented with electronic over-dubbing of instrumental sounds, while on the latter, joined forces with The Cardiff County & Vale of Glamorgan Youth Orchestra to bring a fresh approach to some male voice classics.

More recently, the Choir was invited to sing with the young Charlotte Church at a concert to celebrate HRH The Prince of Wales’ 50th birthday celebrations, and this led to the recording for Sony of Men of Harlech with Charlotte on her album entitled ‘Charlotte Church’ (1999), bringing the choir to the attention of a world-wide audience.

These recordings, together with television appearances with the likes of Michael Parkinson, Sir Jimmy Saville, Jack Dee, Chris Evans, Sir Harry Secombe, Bryn Terfel, Tom Jones and others, two Royal Variety Command Performances, and pre-match appearances at Wembley Stadium when the Welsh Rugby team played there in the late 1990s, have given the Choir instant recognition in their distinctive red jackets.

The first 100 years have indeed been memorable – the Choir’s future is assured as one of the foremost male choirs in the country.

Reproduced by permission of

Haydn James, Rita Clark and Gethin Williams

 

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Last updated 28 September, 2008
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