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TERFEL BRYN Amazon.co.uk As one of the UK’s leading opera singers, bass-baritone Bryn Terfel is known and universally admired for his recordings and live performances. He has, however, taken time out to head back to Wales and record a disc of songs and hymns from his homeland. To quote “Cymru Fach”, “There’s a place for the whole of her in my heart, dearest Wales. Each mountain, each valley, each river, dearest Wales. ‘Though I travel far from her hilltops, far from her resounding waterfalls, within minutes I will dream my way back from afar to that sanctuary of my childhood: dearest Wales”. The resulting CD comprises 21 tracks, from the rousing and joyous “Cwm Rhondda” to the poignant and introspective “My Little Welsh Home”. Joined by the massed forces of the Black Mountain Chorus, Risca Male Choir and the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, Terfel is the perfect ambassador for this music, while Chris Hazell should be commended for his imaginative orchestrations of 17 of the tracks. The sleeve notes for We’ll Keep a Welcome cite the Welsh proverb “To be born Welsh is to be born with music in your blood and poetry in your soul”. Terfel was born with music, poetry and a little bit of magic, all of which he brings to this CD. Whether or not you are Welsh, this is one disc sure to send tingles up and down your spine. — Rebecca Agnew