Performed by Mosel Voices, conducted by Dafydd Bullock, 
with Soprano Solo: Danièle Patz 
Organ: Adrien Theato

Available from the i-Tunes store

Requiem for Jan Palach

Ein Jahresbuch für Klavier - A Yearbook for Piano

Symphony 25 
Opus 286, Senheim, 2019
Four Movements

Written between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, 2019
Image by Kate Bullock

Symphony 25

Ein Jahresbuch für Klavier, Opus 221 
(A Year-Book for Piano)

01 Januar

Ein Jahresbuch für Klavier: 01 Januar

Ein Jahresbuch für Klavier, Opus 221 
(A Year-Book for Piano)

02 Februar

Ein Jahresbuch für Klavier: 02 Februar

Ein Jahresbuch für Klavier, Opus 221 
(A Year-Book for Piano)

03 März

Ein Jahresbuch für Klavier: 03 März

Ein Jahresbuch für Klavier, Opus 221 
(A Year-Book for Piano)

04 April

Ein Jahresbuch für Klavier: 04 April

Ein Jahresbuch für Klavier, Opus 221 
(A Year-Book for Piano)

05 Mai




Ein Jahresbuch für Klavier: 05 Mai

Symphony 20 'The Miracle Of Zattere’ Opus 238

I heard a sad man playing bits of themes on an old violin, very badly, never finishing a thought, on a square in Venice. On the way home I imagined if once, just once, the REAL spirit of music would allow him to soar, to be lyrical, before returning to the mechanical scraping again. This is the point of my Symphony 20 'The Miracle of Zattere’. 

Hinterthal, Austria in summer 2014.
Dedicated to an Unknown Street Violinist in Zattere

Symphony 20  'The Miracle Of Zattere'

Serenade for Flute And Harp, from Five Pieces in Classical Style: No. 4

Serenade for Flute And Harp

Symphony 39 'Dresden' - written immediately after my first visit to Dresden in April - May 2025. Deep feelings of sadness and a sense of universal shame at the continuing destruction of lives and cities in the first movement, the horror of the firestorm and destruction of Dresden in the short, violent second movement, and after shock and dislocation at the opening of the third movement, short evocations in not quite correct baroque and classical musical styles to mirror the reconstruction of the city centre, always with terror as a background presence. A further development of part of the first movement provides a final section, which is deeply sad.

Symphony 39 'Dresden' 2

A short meditation for piano on the plainsong 'Ubi Caritas'
This wonderful recording was made by Anna Heller and first appeared on Moving Classics TV. "In this deeply moving piece by Dafydd Bullock, ancient sacred text meets a contemporary musical voice — contemplative, luminous, and full of grace."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-d-DKqV0vg

It is posted here with her kind permission. 
http://movingclassics.tv/about-us/  
https://anna-heller.com

Anna writes;
Welcome to Echoes of The Monastery, a project born from my deep fascination with the timeless beauty of Gregorian chants. These ancient melodies, rooted in the sacred traditions of the medieval church, have a unique power to transport listeners to a place of stillness, reflection, and transcendence.
In a world that often feels chaotic and fast-paced, Gregorian chants offer a rare opportunity to pause, breathe, and reconnect with something greater than ourselves. Their hauntingly simple yet profound harmonies have the ability to quiet the mind and awaken the soul—a reminder of the enduring power of music to inspire.
For this project, I’ve collaborated with several outstanding composers of today, each of whom has created new original meditative and atmospheric compositions in their own unique style, while drawing inspiration from the spirit of Gregorian chants. These pieces are not recreations of the past, but rather a modern reimagining of the chant’s essence—ethereal, contemplative, and deeply moving.
Through this series, I hope to share not only the beauty of these compositions but also my belief in the importance of bringing Gregorian chants—and the meditative qualities they embody—back into our lives. This is not just a musical journey; it is an invitation to step into a space of White Darkness, where light and shadow meet, and where the echoes of the past resonate with the present.
Join me as we explore the timeless allure of Gregorian chants and their modern re-imaginations. Let these melodies guide you to a place of inner peace and reflection.
Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe to stay connected as we release new compositions. Share your thoughts below—what do Gregorian chants mean to you? How do they make you feel?
Thank you for being part of this journey.

#GregorianChants #MeditativeMusic #WhiteDarkness #MovingClassics #AtmosphericMusic #ModernChant #AnnaHellerPianist

Echoes of the Monastery  - Ubi Caritas - Anna Heller

Three Ländler for Clarinet and Harp, written in Austria in the summer of 2022. Short, evocative pieces.

Three Ländler for Clarinet and Harp 3

Three Ländler  for Clarinet and Harp 2

Three Ländler for Clarinet and Harp  1

Written in one breath following a turbulent night caused by an astonishing and deeply upsetting conversation with an unsuspected holocaust denier. A chilling and extremely negative encounter. 

The Welsh word ‘Distaw’ is given to that special calm which follows any storm, be it physical or psychological. Thus the first movement is violent, disruptive and unpredictable, the second is the opposite - a calm (invented) chorale alternates with a soothing melody.

This Quartet is dedicated ‘to the Denied.’

Senheim, Germany, July 22nd, 2025.

String Quartet 40 'Distaw' 2

String Quartet 40 'Distaw' 1

Written in October 2025 in Senheim, Germany, this is my second Quintet for Brass. The inspiration comes for a recent visit to the white Vogtei Tower in Senheim, which dates back to the 13th century and is owned currently by the sculptor Christoph Anders, to whom the work is dedicated. Fanfares alternate with brooding menace as thick and heavy as the tower walls, more lyrical passages and a choral like finale, in a sense echoes from the structure itself. There are four movements.

Brass Quintet Opus 365 4

Brass Quintet Opus 365 3

Brass Quintet Opus 365 2

Brass Quintet Opus 365 1

Written in two days following a short visit to the North Sea island of Vlieland (NL) where I took this photo of the beautiful November Moon on my final evening. The veiled stillness - of which I hope there's an equivalence in the first movement, returns at the end of the second, which begins with further development of short themes written nearly 30 years ago, again on Vlieland, and which in 1999 became my Vlieland Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano. A very personal step back to old times and old thematic friends! Opus 366.

String Quartet 41 'November Moon' 2

String Quartet 41 'November Moon' 1

In Memoriam George Hadjinikos

Written the day after the death of my teacher, George Hadjinikos. An inadequate response, for sure. The initials G and H (H is B in German) form a basis for three things: an ever expanding interval figure, symbolising the expansion of perception he gave us; dance-like irregular phrases, and at the end the (adapted) theme of Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto, last movement, which I heard him play at short notice with the Halle Orchestra in Manchester in the early 1970s. RIP.

In Memoriam George Hadjinikos

Opus 182, Luxembourg, 2008

This Requiem was commissioned by the Czech Embassy in Luxembourg, written in July, 2008, premiered on January 29th, 2009 and recorded on February 12th, 2009 at St Martin’s Church in Dudelange, Luxembourg. It does not offer visions of sanctity, paradise and redemption. Nor is it a celebration of life, or death. By adding to some of the traditional Latin text mighty lines from Jan Hus (some of which are inscribed on his monument in the Old Town Square in Prague), some graffiti which appeared, very briefly, on the Wenceslas Monument just after Jan Palach’s death, and which were rapidly removed, and other words from the Prague of 1968 and 1969 as well as Article One of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the music seeks to confront the horror of a despairing suicide, the smell of petrol and burning flesh and desperation in the face of overwhelming political brutality. 

Traditional consolation (in the shape, here, of two quotations from the sweetest of Requiems, that of Gabriel Fauré) is irrelevant, and thus violently dispensed with. Eternal Light is replaced by the incandescence of flames. Enduring values are sought. The hope implied by ethical statements is subordinated to the vital necessity of remembering. 

The music is tonal, despite dissonance, and cyclical. Themes and motifs recur, particularly an organ phrase which seeks to evoke rising heat and flame. At times anguished, the music resolves into stable tonalities associated with enduring ethical concepts. In other places the treatment is almost bucolic, and perhaps with a feel of Bohemia. There is a place for innocence.

It has been an honour to write this work, in memory of Jan Palach and of the others who suffered, protested and fought for us all in Prague.

Performed by Mosel Voices, conducted by Dafydd Bullock, 
with Soprano Solo: Danièle Patz 
Organ: Adrien Theato

Available from the i-Tunes store

Requiem for Jan Palach 1

Opus 182, Luxembourg, 2008

2: The Ten Commandments of Prague
      
You don't know anything: 
You don't take care of anything: 
You don't know: You don't care: 
You don't tell anything: 
You don't have anything: 
You don't know how: 
You don't know: You don't tell: 
You don't give anything: 
You can't do anything: 
You don't sell anything: 
You don't show anything: 
You don't do anything: 
You don't know anything:

Performed by Mosel Voices, conducted by Dafydd Bullock, 
with Soprano Solo: Danièle Patz 
Organ: Adrien Theato

Available from the i-Tunes store

Requiem for Jan Palach 2

Opus 182, Luxembourg, 2008

Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna, 
in die illa tremenda, 
Quando coelli movendi sunt, et terra: 
Dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem.
Tremens factus sum ego, et …

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine:  
Requiem aeternam lux perpetua 

Performed by Mosel Voices, conducted by Dafydd Bullock, 
with Soprano Solo: Danièle Patz 
Organ: Adrien Theato

Available from the i-Tunes store
Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine:  
Requiem aeternam lux perpetua 


Requiem for Jan Palach 3

Opus 182, Luxembourg, 2008

Reflections Upon Civil Disobedience: Organ Solo

Performed by Mosel Voices, conducted by Dafydd Bullock, 
with Soprano Solo: Danièle Patz 
Organ: Adrien Theato

Available from the i-Tunes store

Requiem for Jan Palach 4

Opus 182, Luxembourg, 2008

Article One

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. 
They are endowed with reason and conscience 
and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Performed by Mosel Voices, conducted by Dafydd Bullock, 
with Soprano Solo: Danièle Patz 
Organ: Adrien Theato

Available from the i-Tunes store

Requiem for Jan Palach 5

Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano (Troika), Opus 17, Luxembourg, 1988

Zdena Pelikánová - violin
Jindřich Ptáček - violoncello
Bronislav Procházka - piano

Recorded at State Opera House, Prague

Written in 1988 and dedicated to Raimund Lang and Joseph Lafleur, who with the composer gave the first performance in Luxembourg the same year, the ‘Troika’ is a short, early work with three movements. The whole is conceived as a ‘homage’ to ‘Russian-ness’ in music, and in particular to the lyricism to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov as well as the rhythmic drive of Stravinsky and the folk tradition in general. Echoes of all this abound. The composer returns to the Russian idea again in his Guitar Quintet, Opus 143.


Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano 'Troika' 1

Hochkönig-Ruf for 4 Alphorns

Hochmais-Ruf for 4 Alphorns

Elegy
Hinterthal, October 2017 Opus 265
'for those who never met ... '

Elegy 'for those who never met ... '

Forty Eight Preludes for Piano: Book Two
Opus 85
Sŵn y Llyn, Fachwen, 1995

Prelude 21: Bb major

Forty Eight Preludes for Piano: Book Two: 21: Bb major

Forty Eight Preludes for Piano: Book Two 
Opus 85 
Sŵn y Llyn, Fachwen, 1995

Prelude 1: C major

Forty Eight Preludes for Piano: Book Two: 1: C Major

Music for Babies

A little tradition: every new born baby of my acquaintance gets his or her little lullaby, often based on the rhythm of the name ...

Music for Babies: Hannah

Symphony 25 Opus 286

The beginning offers a tense, syncopated accompaniment figure which persists almost throughout, over which appear broad melodic shapes, tonal yet at times very dissonant. Majestic chords with something of a Tudor feel open the 2nd movement, and from them come extended melodic contrapuntal passages. The alternation continues for some time until a hint of the blues creeps in before the end. The 3rd movement is a scherzo-equivalent, a moto perpetuo contrapuntal dialogue at times eerie, even demonic. Contrast then from a more felicitous trio before the return. Finally movement 4, opening with a gentle, sad introduction after which chords alternate with halter skelter passages before the music ends in a quiet way.

Senheim, Germany 2019, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday

Image by Kate Bullock

Symphony 25: 4

Symphony 25: 3

Symphony 25: 2

Symphony 25 Opus 286

The beginning offers a tense, syncopated accompaniment figure which persists almost throughout, over which appear broad melodic shapes, tonal yet at times very dissonant. Majestic chords with something of a Tudor feel open the 2nd movement, and from them come extended melodic contrapuntal passages. The alternation continues for some time until a hint of the blues creeps in before the end. The 3rd movement is a scherzo-equivalent, a moto perpetuo contrapuntal dialogue at times eerie, even demonic. Contrast then from a more felicitous trio before the return. Finally movement 4, opening with a gentle, sad introduction after which chords alternate with halter skelter passages before the music ends in a quiet way.

Senheim, Germany 2019, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday
Image by Kate Bullock

Symphony 25: 1

Dafydd Bullock was born in  Llanberis, Gwynedd, Cymru (Wales).

A composer, he graduated in Music (University of Manchester and the Royal Northern College of Music, 1971 - 1976) where he studied with George Hadjinikos, and took a Master's Degree in International Relations (University of Sussex, 1981 - 1983). In 1993 and 1994 he won first prizes at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and in 1995 he was honoured in Wales by admission to the highest Order of the Gorsedd of Bards. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2005.

His compositions include 40 symphonies, 19 symphonic poems, 2 operas, 2 Requiems, 2 Mass settings, a Missa Brevis, an oratorio, 41 string quartets, 9 trios and other chamber music and many songs and pieces for piano. He has written scores for 2 films. 

Works have been published in the British Isles by Oriana Publications, Cwmni Gwynn, Curiad and Bardic Edition, in Belgium by Alain Van Kerckhoven Editeur, in the USA and in Luxembourg by Luxembourg Music Publishers, Music Enterprise and Double You. He has made 41 CDs to date, with SAIN (Wales), AVK (Belgium) and LakeSound. His music has been performed and listened to and broadcast in over 140 countries, including Japan, China, USA, Brazil and Colombia as well as widely within Europe.  

Dafydd Bullock has a particular relationship with Prague: his Second Symphony was given its world premiere by Musici de Praga during the 1996 Prague Spring Festival and the Third Symphony, again in Prague, on St. Valentine's Day, 1997. The third and fourth String Quartets were also recorded in Prague (Becher Quartet) as were the complete works for Cello and Piano (Jindrich Ptacek) and five Trios. More recently, Virtuosi di Basso, the twelve solo celli of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra have recorded and performed music especially written for them. Recently he premiered his Requiem for Jan Palach in Luxembourg and in Prague.

Dafydd Bullock wurde in 1953 in Llanberis, Gwynedd, Cymru (Wales) geboren. Er studierte an der Universität Manchester und am Royal Northern College of Music (Professor George Hadjinikos) von 1971 bis 1976, wo er sein Examen in Musik ablegte. Weiterhin studierte er Politikwissenschaft mit dem Schwerpunkt ‘Internationale Beziehungen’ von 1981 bis 1983 an der Universität Sussex. Dieses Studium schloß er mit der Magister Prüfung ab. Er arbeitet als Komponist. 1993 und 1994 gewann er erste Preise im Fach Komposition an der National Eisteddfod of Wales. Im Jahre 1995 wurde er in Wales durch Verleihung des höchsten Grads der Gorsedd of Bards geehrt und in 2005 wurde er Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. 

Zu seinen Kompositionen gehören 40 Sinfonien, 19 sinfonische Dichtungen, 2 Opern, 2 Messen, 2 Requiem, 41 Streichquartette, 9 Trios und weitere Kammermusik und viele Klavierwerke. Er hat 2 Filmmusiken komponiert.
Verschiedene Werke werden von Oriana Publications, Bardic Edition, Cwmni Gwynn und Curiad in Großbritannien, von Alain van Kerckhoven Editeur in Belgien, und von  Luxembourg Music Publishers, LakeSound, Music Enterprise und Double You in Luxemburg veröffentlicht. Bis jetzt hat er 41 CDs unter anderen bei den Firmen SAIN (Wales) und AVK (Belgien) und LakeSound gemacht.  Seine Musik wurde in mehr als 140 Ländern gehört, gesendet und aufgeführt einschließlich in Japan, China, USA, Brasilien und Columbien, sowie in Europa.

Dafydd Bullock

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