David Bednall Catalogue

Choral Christmas

Choral Christmas Alleluya, a New Work is Come on Hand SATB and organ Vocal score 9780193514263 Digital score 9780193525436 The choral writing in this energetic and joyful Christmas carol is rich with rhythmic character, while the organ part is typically virtuosic. Alleluya, A New Work is Come on Hand is recorded on the Regent Records album A Year at Tewkesbury (REGCD474). 3 minutes BC: AD - This was the moment SATB unaccompanied Vocal score 9780193413467 Digital score 9780193536845 This warm and expressive carol sets a Christmas poem by English poet U. A. Fanthorpe that centres on the moment of Christ’s birth. Fleeting unisons call the listener’s attention to the focal point of the text, the ‘moment’, and the rich, luminous harmonies create a sense of wonder at this momentous event. 4 minutes Hail, heavenly beam SATB unaccompanied Vocal score 9780193535206 Digital score 9780193535220 Hail, heavenly beam is a powerful and joyful setting of a 9th-century advent prayer. Coloured by rich harmonies and tonal shifts, the piece opens briskly before propelling itself towards a rousing conclusion characterised by faster, more exuberant melodic lines and expressive melismas. 3.5 minutes Light Triumphant Breaks SATB and organ Choral Christmas Vocal score 9780193562769 Digital score 9780193562776 Light Triumphant Breaks combines the text of the Sarum introit from the second Sunday of Advent and a translated anonymous Greek text using dancing dotted rhythms and intricate articulation. A free use of metre and contrapuntal movement make this a lively and jubilant piece that would be enjoyed by church and cathedral choirs alike. Make We Merry SSAA or SATB, organ, and opt. brass hn, tpt I, tpt II, tbn, tba, timp, perc SSAA vocal score 9780193526532 SATB vocal score 9780193533530 Commissioned by Benenden School, Make we merry is an eight-movement piece which sets texts from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries to a variety of choral textures with a highly characterful accompaniment. A vast array of sentiments is depicted, from quiet expectance and gentle wonder to boisterous jubilation, and the different movements provide a wonderfully paced journey through these moods. The final movement brings back motifs from the opening and grows to a thrillingly climactic ending to this exciting Christmas concert work. 25 minutes Noe, noe SATB (with divisions) and organ Vocal score 9780193413443 Digital score 9780193525184 This jubilant Christmas carol sets a fifteenth-century text that rejoices in the birth of Jesus. Bednall’s exciting setting features changing time signatures. There are a variety of tempi and textures: a slower, tender middle section contrasts with the lively outer sections, and an unaccompanied section is juxtaposed against glittering, rhythmic organ passages. Noe, noe is featured on the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge album Advent Light (Signum). 4 minutes Sweet was the Song SS and organ Vocal score 9780193530997 Digital score 9780193538962 This movement from Make We Merry sets the words of the seventeenth-century Christmas text ‘Sweet was the song’ to a straightforward and lyrical solo line in the first soprano part, with an imitative second soprano part joining towards the end. The organ accompaniment gently underpins the tender vocal lines throughout. 4 minutes Idyll SATB unaccompanied Choral Secular Vocal score 9780193532779 Digital score 9780193533455 In this bittersweet pastoral setting Bednall’s flowing melody lines are paired with the tender words of the contemplative First World War poet, Siegfried Sasson. The 5/4 metre lends a wistful whimsical feel to the music, allowing the piece to flow freely, whilst retaining the playful syncopation so familiar in folk music. The poem itself is a rare step outside Sassoon’s typical First World War themes. Rather, Idyll describes a summer garden where he wishes to meet somebody, who, it seems, has passed away. A beautifully creative work offering heartache and warmth in equal measure. 4 minutes The Scholar SATB unaccompanied Vocal score 9780193524439 Digital score 9780193531253 The Scholar is a sensitive setting of Robert Southey’s poem that explores a man’s kinship with the dead. With Bednall’s characteristic metrical fluidity and effective word setting, this piece will provide a moment of quiet reflection in a concert programme. 3 minutes Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? SATB double choir unaccompanied Vocal score 9780193413450 Digital score 9780193531253 A setting of Shakespeare’s much-loved Sonnet 18, Bednall’s expressive work highlights this timeless text with sumptuous harmony, including pleasing tonal shifts and topical false relations. Various choral textures are explored, from the imitative lines of ‘Sometime too hot’, to the warm richness of the closing pages, where the choir divides into eight parts. 5 minutes Some corner of a foreign field SATB unaccompanied Vocal score 9780193524262 Digital score 9780193538535 A group of three miniatures for unaccompanied mixed voices, Some corner of a foreign field sets poems by three First World War soldiers: John William Streets, Goldfeld (about whom no more than his surname is known), and Rupert Brooke. Bednall’s settings are slow, expansive, and expressive, giving space for the listener to reflect on the profoundly moving texts. Brooke’s ‘The Soldier’ brings a particularly poignant conclusion to the set, with melismas employed for dramatic effect. 8 minutes Choral Secular 4.5 minutes 6 7