môr(G)wyn was composed specifically for performance on the computer-controlled sound system of the subterranean Sound Gallery in Rådhuspladsen [City Hall Square] in Copenhagen (Denmark). Twenty-five loudspeakers were embedded just below the surface in a 5x5 grid, while computers in a room beneath the square controlled the ‘choreography’ of the sound across the space.

Inspired by Copenhagen’s famous and apparently benign tourist landmark, the Little Mermaid statue, môr(G)wyn explores the sea’s contradictory yet indivisible characteristics of beauty and danger as symbolised in the mermaid / sirens myth. It brings together two pools of material – sea sounds and female voices – in two contrasting musical manifestations, one violent, the other lyrical. The title môr(G)wyn is a fabricated word containing a number of mainly Welsh resonances, including sea, death, girl / maiden, white / blessed and mermaid.

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môr(G)wyn a reçu le 2^e prix ex æquo au Concours international de musique électroacoustique EAR’97 de la radio hongroise (Budapest, Hongrie, 1997).

Préparation

• Electroacoustic Music Studios — Bangor University, Bangor (Pays de Galles, Royaume-Uni)

Composition

• Décembre 1996, Copenhague (Danemark)

Distinctions

• 2^e prix ex æquo, EAR’97, Budapest (Hongrie)