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{{Short description|Orchestral piece by Guto Puw}}
"'''...{{lang|cy|onyt agoraf y drws}}...'''" ([[English language|English]]: "...unless I open the door...") is an [[orchestra]]l piece lasting approximately 15 minutes by the [[Wales|Welsh]] composer [[Guto Puw]]. It was first performed on 9 August 2007, at the [[The Proms|Proms]] by the [[BBC National Orchestra of Wales]], conducted by [[David Atherton]]. Puw was resident composer with the orchestra at the time.<ref name=BBCProms/>

==The piece==
The composition is based on part of [[Branwen]]'s story from the ''[[Mabinogion]]'', a collection of medieval Welsh tales, in which a group of warriors, lately returned from [[Ireland]], feast in [[Harlech]] for seven years with the severed head of their leader, [[Bran the Blessed|Bendigeidfran]], at the head of the table. They then feast in [[Pembroke, Pembrokeshire|Penfro]] for eight years in a hall with three doors and only remember the dreadful events that happened in Ireland when the third door opens.<ref name=BBCProms>BBC Proms Guide 2007 {{ISBN|978-1-84607-256-7}}</ref><ref name="Bangor2007"/> The cheerful feasting is represented by a quotation of a Welsh folk tune.<ref name="Bangor2007"/> Each of the three doors in Penfro was represented by an instrument ([[trumpet]], [[clarinet]], [[violin]]) in a [[box (theatre)|box]] in the [[Royal Albert Hall]].<ref name=BBCProms/> The piece has a mixture of frantic, rhythmical sections and sections of "black-magical stasis".<ref name=Guardian/> The piece uses novel sound combinations and effects: the opening of the first door is depicted with strumming of piano strings, and the forbidden door opens to the sound of rasping strings and a huge creak in the percussion section.<ref name=Guardian>{{cite web |url = http://music.guardian.co.uk/live/story/0,,2146702,00.html| title= Prom 36 BBCNOW/Atherton| last=Jeal| first=Erica| work=[[The Guardian]]| date=11 August 2007 | accessdate=14 August 2007}}</ref> There is then a nightmarish reel from a violinist, representing the memories of Ireland; the violinist at the first performance was positioned at the back of the Royal Albert Hall.<ref name="Bangor2007"/><ref name=Guardian/>

==Critical reception==
Critics generally responded well to the first performance. ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''{{'s}} critic described it as a "succession of vivid tableaux" and "liked the way it mixed pictorialism with broader expressions of mood and emotional states". ''[[The Guardian]]''{{'s}} critic described it as a "vivid score", saying that the partnership between composer and orchestra was "clearly bearing fruit" and noting the way that Puw used the huge orchestra with restraint.<ref name=Guardian/> ''[[The Times]]'' said that Puw had a "knack for drama", "an orchestral ear" and "a winningly flexible technique". However, the critic added that the "spatial games played with the Albert Hall didn't amount to much, and the piece overall lacks weight", whilst commenting that Puw was a composer "well worth noting".<ref name=Times>{{cite web | url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/live_reviews/article2238658.ece | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517044705/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/live_reviews/article2238658.ece | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 17, 2011 |title=Proms: BBCNOW/Atherton| last=Brown| first=Geoff| date=13 August 2007 | accessdate=14 August 2007|work=[[The Times]] | location=London}}</ref>

A second performance took place as part of the [[Swansea]] Festival in 2008.<ref name="Bangor2007">{{cite web | url=http://www.bangor.ac.uk/news/full.php.en?Id=286| title=Orchestral piece to be performed at the London Proms| date=30 July 2007 | accessdate=15 August 2007| publisher=[[University of Wales, Bangor]]}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Onyt Agoraf Y Drws}}
[[Category:Compositions by Guto Puw]]
[[Category:2007 in British music]]
[[Category:2007 compositions]]