The Great Little Trains of Wales (Heneghan & Lawson)

The Great Little Trains of Wales is a four-movement symphonic suite jointly composed by Ben Heneghan & Ian lawson (aka Iain James Veitch)

The work is based on themes written for a 1984 Welsh-language television series called Crwydro'r Cledrau (Wandering the Rails).

The first movement Snowdon was first performed by the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Louis Fremaux, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, June 1988. It was given a second performance a year later in the same venue as part of the ‘Welsh Proms’ by the Hallé Orchestra. This performance was also broadcast on HTV.

The first complete performance was given by the City of Cardiff Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Martin McHale, 4th July 2019.

In 1989 the composers made a ‘virtual mock up of the work using digital samples. Although the technology used to make these 'mock-ups' has improved enormously since 1989. The second movement - Cable Car Waltz was, never-the-less, broadcast on Radio 3. 

Here is a link to those 1989 recordings.

Short programme note:

Far from being a mere succession of disconnected tunes, however, it is a coherent, but abundantly melodic, symphonic structure that owes much of its inspiration to our own feelings about the landscapes through which the little trains travel.

Nostalgia and the present play equal parts in the forming of this unashamedly romantic piece. Thus Snowdon re-visits a slightly idealised North Wales, but also evokes some of the mood of the South Wales Valleys. Cable Car Waltz conjures up the opulent Victorian promenades of both Llandudno (home of the "Great Orme" cable car) and Aberystwyth. Devil's Bridge takes one of the gentlest journeys (along the Mid-Wales Rheidol Valley) as the starting point for a general depiction of all the lush, green corners of Wales, in contrast to its mountains. And Ffestiniog, partly through a chance similarity to words like 'festive' and 'festal', is simply a celebration of embarking on the best holiday you might ever have had, on a train that is never late, never breaks down, and at a certain point leaves the care-worn earth far behind, chasing the east wind westward.

Orchestration:

3 flutes (3 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon. 
4 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba.
Timpani, 3 percussion players, piano/celesta, harp
strings

Please email the composers for infomation regarding performing materials

Also on Soundcloud:

3 flutes (3 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon. 
4 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba.
Timpani, 3 percussion players, piano/celesta, harp
strings