Peter Reynolds (January 12, 1958 – October 11, 2016) was a Welsh composer known for founding PM Music Ensemble. In addition, he was recognised by Guinness World Records as having written with writer Simon Rees the shortest opera on Earth, Sands of Time; a three-minute and thirty-four second long piece. He died on 11 October 2016 at his home in Cardiff.
Peter was born to Dorothy and John Reynolds in 1958. Peter studied in Cardiff, Wales, and lived in South Wales, and was the artistic director of the Lower Machen Festival in Monmouthshire from 1998 to 2009. He received bursaries to study at the Dartington International Summer School with Peter Maxwell Davies in 1984, Morton Feldman in 1986, and Gordon Cross in 1987. Peter gave many compositions workshops ranging from schools’ Year 9 through to teaching composition at both undergraduate and post-graduate level at Cardiff’s Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama from 2002 - 2016. Peter was the Musical Director of the Splott Ladies Choir during the 1990s, and he often ran workshops in combination with many different ensembles.
St David’s Hall Composition Series
Between September and December 2014, Peter ran a series of composition workshops for young composers once a month on Saturdays at St David’s Hall.
Young Composer of Dyfed
Young Composer of Dyfed is one of the great undiscovered secrets of Wales – a scheme in which young composers in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire work with top, often international, quality players on their compositions. Peter was involved with the scheme adjudicating and mentoring composers since 2006 and was then composer-in-residence from 2010–13, spending each winter working in schools across Dyfed and with ensembles including Piano Circus, the Brodowski Quartet and Farthingale Ensemble. Take a look at their website.
PM Music Ensemble Workshops
PM Music Ensemble is a performing group devoted to contemporary music that Peter set up and ran from 1991. They ran an extensive education programme of composition workshops for various organisations including: Cardiff University School of Music (from 1994) ESTA Composition for School Teachers (2003) Go West Festival (1995) Junior Guildhall School of Music (London) (2003) Late Music Festival (York) (2002) Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (Composition Dept and Junior Music Dept) (2002–09) Waterford New Music Week, Ireland (Residencies in 2004 & 2007) Vale of Glamorgan Festival (1999-2000)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Analysis workshops for A Level students on Schubert’s C major Quintet with the Corinthian String Quartet (Cardiff & Bangor, 1997)
1986 Michael Tippett Award for Composition,
1986 Glanville Jones Award for Outstanding Achievement in Welsh Music (Welsh Music Guild)
1980 - 1989
Lullaby (1981). Mezzo-soprano & piano. Words: W.H Auden
Borrowed Time (1983–88). Fl, ob, cl, vln, vc, perc & piano
Shifts (1984). Fl. ob. cl, perc (1 player)
Unison (1986). 2 clarinets
Diaphony (1986/7 rev. 1992). Chamber orchestra
Moonsongs (1987–91). Fl, vln, vc & piano
Bye, baby bunting (1987–93). String Trio
Bell Patterns (1988). Solo viola
String Sextet (1988). 2 vln, 2 va, 2 vc
1990 - 1999
Dumpe (1990). Viola & piano
Tango (1993). Piano solo
Variations (1993). Cello & piano
The Sands of Time – An Opera in Four Minutes (1993) Soprano and Baritone, chorus of 4 sopranos. flute, 2 oboes, 2 saxophones, bassoon, trumpet, percussion (or with piano accompaniment)
Serenata I (1994). Flute & guitar
Serenata II (1994). Oboe & piano
Old King Cole (1994). Vln, vc, fl, cl, pno
Turtle Soup (1994). Two-part song for children’s voices with piano. Words: Lewis Carroll
So soft this morning, ours (1995). Violin & piano
Now Goeth Sun under Wood (1995). Female chorus (SSA). Words: Anon, Medieval
String Quartet No.1 (1996) 2 vln, vla, vc
Hold not thy peace and be not still (1997). Fl, vc & pno
The House of Alcinous (1997). Mezzo-soprano, vc & pno. Words adapted from Homer’s Odyssey
A New Year Carol (1997). Two-part song for children’s voices with piano, words Anon.
Ngòmbí Song (1998). Clarinet & piano
Near Nicosia, Sicily, July 28, 1943 (1998). Madrigal for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass. Words: Geoff Dyer
Cheap Labour (1999). 2 euphoniums & 2 tubas.
Serenata III (1999/2003). Strings
Serenata III (1999). Vln, vc, fl, cl, pno (or harp)
2000 - 2009
Suite (2000). Solo cello
Barnacles (2000). Two-part song for children’s voices with piano, words by Martin Riley
Prelude & Finale (from Suite for Cello) (2000). Solo cello
Urban Songs (2002). Soprano, fl, cl, vc & pno (Also available for soprano with piano accompaniment). Words: Adey Grummet
Nocturnes for Wind Quintet (2002). Fl, ob, cl, hn & bsn.
Heartfelt Songs (2004). Soprano, fl, cl, vln, vc & pno. Words: Adey Grummet
Sometimes there is a hoar frost… (2008)
Lullaby (2009). For organ, keyboard or any two appropriate instruments
In One Spot (2009). Piano solo
Beiliheulog (2009). Fl, vla, guit (or harp)
Three Wang Wei Songs (2009). Soprano (unaccompanied). Words: Wang Wei
2010-2016
Far down in the forest (2010). Three solo piano pieces for children based on the tales of Hans Christian Andersen
The Head of Brass (2010). Narrator & saxophone quartet (sop, alto, ten & bass). Words: Simon Rees
Canons for the Longest Day (2010). Strings and two off-stage violins
Only the Stars Remember (2010). Soprano & pno. Words: Maria Garner
Bayvil (2011). Piano solo
Adieu to all Alluring Toys (2011). Baritone & pno. Words: Anon.
Cairn (2011). Harp (also available in a version for soprano saxophone & cello)
Epithalamion (2011). Piano solo
footsteps quiet in the shadows (String Quartet No.2) (2012). 2 vln, vla, vc.
Three Winter Haiku (2012). Mezzo-soprano & piano
Ecco Mormorar L’onde (2013). Piano solo
Moon-ark (2013). Solo cello & strings
Partrishow (2014). fl (db. alto), vln, guit, cb. (instrumentalists double singing bowls)
Terry Dactyl and the Meteor Seven(2014). A performance work for 4-7 year olds. Narrator & brass trio (tpt, hn, & tbn or tuba). Words: Francesca Kay
Cippyn (2015). Piano & electronics. Studio recording by Gordon Honeybourne
Cippyn (2015). Double bass and electronics. Duration: 12’. Film by Aaron J Cooper, director Heledd Wyn Hardy with Ashley John Long
Penllyn (2016) for piano
Le Gros Horloge (2016) for clarinet, violin, and piano
Peter was also an avid writer of programme notes, and also wrote the biography of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in 2009. Peter wrote programme notes for the following composers:
A
Adams, John
Adès, Thomas
Alfvén, Hugo
Alain, Jehan
Albéniz, Isaac
Albinoni, Tomaso
Amy, Gilbert
Anderson-Lopez, Kristen
Anderson, Leroy
Andersson, B Tommy
ApSion, Pwyll
Arensky, Anton
Arnold, Malcolm
Arwyn, Robat
B
Bach, J. S.
Bach, J. C.
Bainbridge, Simon
Balakirev, Mily
Balfe, Michael William
Barber, Charlie
Barber, Samuel
Barrios-Mangoré, Agustín
Bart, Lionel
Bartók, Béla
Bax, Arnold
Beach, Amy
Beethoven, Ludwig van
Berg, Alban
Berkeley, Lennox
Berkeley, Michael
Bériot, Charles Auguste de
Berlin, Irving
Berlioz, Hector
Bernstein, Leonard
Berio, Luciano
Best, W. T.
Biber, Heinrich
Binge, Ronald
Birtwistle, Harrison
Bizet, Georges
Blumenfeld, Felix
Boden, Mark David
Böhm, Georg
Bonis, Mel
Bor, Modesta
Borne, François
Borodin, Alexander
Boulez, Pierre
Boulanger, Lili
Bowden, Mark
Brahms, Johannes
Bridge, Frank
Britten, Benjamin
Bruch, Max
Bruckner, Anton
Buchardo, Carlos
Burtch, Mervyn
Busoni, Ferrucio
Butterworth, George
Byrd, William
C
Calcaño, José
Camacaro, Pablo
Canteloube, Joseph
Carpenter, John
Casella, Alfredo
Casañas, Josep
Casto, Juan Jose
Chabrier, Emmanuel
Chaminade, Cecile
Charpentier, Marc-Antoine
Chauris, Yves
Chausson, Ernest
Chin, Unsuk
Chopin, Frédéric
Clarke, Jeremiah
Clarke, Rebecca
Cluzeau-Mortet, Luis
Coates, Eric
Cohan, George
Coleman, Cy
Columbo, Joseph
Combier, Jérôme
Copland, Aaron
Corelli, Arcangelo
Cornysh, William
Coward, Noel
Crumb, George
D
Dallapiccola, Luigi
Dankworth, John
Dalbavie, Marc-André
Daugherty, Michael
Davies, Bryan
Davies, E. T.
Davies, Joseph
Davies, T Vincent
Debussy, Claude
Delius, Frederick
Delibes, Leo
Díaz, Simón
DiCapua, Eduardo di
Diamond, David
Donatoni, Franco
Donizetti, Gaetano
Doppler, Carl
Dove, Jonathan
Dukas, Paul
Duparc, Henri
Dupré, Marcel
Duruflé, Maurice
Dusapin, Pascal
Dutilleux, Henri
Dvorák, Antonin
E
Edwards, Elwyn
Elgar, Edward
Ellington, Duke
Enescu, George
Escaich, Thierry
Estévez, Antonio
F
Falla, Manuel de
Fauré, Gabriel
Feldman, Morton
Fernandez, Oscar Lorenzo
Finzi, Gerald
Flotow, Friedrich von
Franck, Cesar
Froberger, Johann Jakob
Foster, Ben
Françaix, Jean
G
Garcia, Manuel
Gershwin, George
Gibbons, Orlando
Ginastera, Alberto
Giuliani, Mauro
Glass, Philip
Glazunov, Alexander
Gliere, Reinhold
Glennie, Evelyn
Gluck, Wilhelm Christobald
Glyn, Gareth
Goodwin, Ron
Gorb, Adam
Górecki, Henryk
Gounod, Charles
Graham, Peter
Grainger, Percy
Granados, Enrique
Gray, Barry
Gregson, Edward
Grieg, Edvard
Griffes, Charles
Grofé, Ferde
Gruber, H. K.
Grusin, Dave
Gudmundsen-Holmgreen Pelle
Guerra-Peixe, César
H
Hakim, Naji
Hall, Emily
Hall, R. B.
Handel, Georg Friedrich
Hanson, Howard
Hardy, John
Harline, Leigh
Harris, David
Harris, Roy
Harris, William
Hartmann, Karl Amadeus
Harty, Hamilton
Haydn, Franz Joseph
Henze, Hans Werner
Herbert, Victor
Hindemith, Paul
Hoddinott, Alun
Holmès, Augusta
Holliger, Heinz
Holloway, Robin
Holst, Gustav
Holt, Simon
Honegger, Arthur
Horovitz, Joseph
Hosokawa, Toshio
Hovhaness, Alan
Howard, James Newton
Howells, Herbert
Hughes, Arwel
Hughes, John
Hughes, R. S.
Hummel, Johann Nepomuk
Humperdinck, Engelbert
Hurel, Philippe
I
Ibert, Jacques
Ireland, John
Ives, Charles
J
Janáček, Leos
Jarrell, Michael
Jeths, Willem
Jenkins, Karl
Jessel, Leon
John, Elton
Jolivet, André
Jones, Daniel
Jones, Emrys
Jones, Eric
Jones, Griffiths H
Jost, Christian
K
Kalinnikov, Vasily
Kancheli, Giya
Kander, John
Kanno, Yoshihiro
Karg-Elert, Siegfried
Karmen, Michael
Keel, Frederick
Kennen, Kent
Kern, Jerome
Ketting, Otto
Khachaturian, Aram
Kodály, Zoltan
Koehne, Graeme
Koppel, Anders
Korngold, Erich Wolfgang
Kverno, Trond
L
Lalo, Eduard
Langgaard, Rued
Lauridsen, Morten
Leclair, Jean-Marie
Lecuona, Ernesto
Lehár, Franz
Leifs, Jón
Leoncavallo, Ruggero
Letelier, Alfonso
Levy, Alexandre
Lewis, Andrew
Lewis, Geraint
Lidholm, Ingvar
Lehmann, Liza
Liadov, Anton
Ligeti, George
Lindberg, Christian
Lindberg, MAgnus
Liszt, Franz
Lloyd Webber, Andrew
Loesser, Frank
Lovrien, David
Lutosławski, Witold
M
Maazel, Lorin
MacDonald, Hector
MacMillan, James
MacMurrough, D
Mahler, Alma
Mahler, Gustav
Malibran, Maria
Mantovani, Bruno
Martin, Frank
Martin, Hugh
Martinu, Bohuslav
Márquez, Arturo
Mascagni, Pietro
Massenet, Jules
Mason, Lowell
Mathias, William
Matthews, Colin
Matthews, David
Mayo, Christopher
Maw, Nicholas
McCartney, Paul
McBroom, Amanda
Mealor, Paul
Medtner, Nikolai
Mendelssohn, Felix
Mendelssohn, Fanny
Menken, Alan
Meredith, Anna
Messiaen, Olivier
Mertz, J K
Milhaud, Darius
Miller, Glenn
Moeran, Ernest John
Monk, Meredith
Monteverdi, Claudio
Monti, Vittorio
Mordish, Louis
Morel, Jorge
Morricone, Ennio
Morley, Thomas
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart, L
Mulet, Henri
Mussorgsky, Modest
N
Neruda, Johann Baptist Georg
Nestico, Sammy
Nicolai, Otto
Nielsen, Carl
Norman, Ludvig
Novello, Ivor
Nystroem, Gösta
O
Offenbach, Jacques
Oehler, Thomas
Orff, Carl
Otaka, Hisatada
P
Pachelbel, Johann
Pagan, Bobby
Paganini, Niccolò
Painter, Christopher
Pakhmutova, Alexander
Panufnik, Andrzej
Pärt, Arvo
Parry, C. H. H
Parry, Joseph
Patterson, Paul
Pergolesi, Giovanni Battista
Persiani, Giuseppe
Petrie, Christopher
Piazzolla, Astor
Pickard, John
Pierné, Gabriel
Piper, Charlie
Piston, Walter
Plaza, Eduardo
Porpora, Antonio
Porter, Cole
Poulenc, Francis
Powell, T.J
Powers, A
Previn, Andre
Prokofiev, Sergei
Puccini, Giacomo
Purcell, Henry
Puw, Guto
Q
Quilter, Roger
R
Raaff, Robin de
Rachmaninov, Sergei
Rautavaara, Einojuhani
Ravel, Maurice
Rebel, Jean-Féry
Reger, Max
Reinecke, Carl
Renié, Henriette
Reich, Steve
Respighi, Ottorino
Reilly, Terry
Revueltas, Silvestre
Rheinberger, Josef
Rzewski, Frederic
Richards, Brinley
Richards, David
Rimsky-Korsakov
Roberts. Caradog
Roberts, Stephen
Rodgers, Richard
Rodrigo, Joaquín
Rorem, Ned
Rosenberg, Hilding
Rossini, Gioachino
Roussel, Albert
Rowlands, W
Rózsa, Miklós
Rubbra, Edmund
Ruders, Poul
Ruiz, Federico
Rutter, John
Ryan, Gary
S
Saint Saëns, Camille
Sallinen, Aulis
Sandström, Jan
Santoro, Claudio Ponteio
Sarasate, Pablo de
Satie, Erik
Scelsi, Anahit
Schifrin, Lalo Concierto Caribeño
Schmidt Symphony No.4
Schoenberg, Arnold
Schönberg, Claude-Michel
Schubert, Franz
Schuman, William
Schumann, Clara
Schumann, Robert
Schwertsik, Kurt
Scriabin, Alexander
Sherman Brothers
Shostakovich Suite,
Sibelius, Jean
Sierra, Arlene Moler
Smetana. Bedrich
Sondheim, Stephen
Sousa, John Philip
Stanford, Charles Villiers
Stenhammar, Wilhelm
Strauss, Richard
Strauss, Johann
Strauss, Johann
Strauss, Josef
Stravinsky, Igor
Styne, Jule
Suárez, Rafael
Suk, Josef
Sullivan, Arthur
Suppé, Franz von
Svendsen, Johan
Szymanowski, Karol