Overview

David Bednall's Christmas cantata Welcome All Wonders was commissioned and first performed by the Choir of Queen's College, Oxford in 2012 and received rave reviews from, among others, BBC Music Magazine, Limelight Magazine and Gramophone. Described as 'ingenious', 'engaging', 'spirited', 'extremely appealing' and 'accessible without being superficial', a recording of this notable work is available on the Signum label (SIGCD335). This cantata brings together a beautiful selection of sacred and secular Christmas texts, skilfully interwoven by Bednall to produce a captivating musical narrative of the Christmas story, from Advent through to Epiphany. As a complete work of c.80 minutes' duration, it offers choirs a full programme for their Christmas concert. Alternatively, most movements can be performed as individual items; the unaccompanied motets are particularly suited to this and are available separately as digital downloads.

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9780571571307

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Reviews

Bednall's writing is ingenious, embedded in a profound understanding of the workings of choir and organ - both as distinct entities and as a partnership. Although the music is often harmonically complicated, it still maintains a tonality and superficial simplicity that makes it extremely appealing for a multi-movement contemporary piece. Caroline Gill, Gramophone, December 2013 Welcome All Wonders: A Christmas Cantata is a large-scale work for choir, organ and trumpet spanning 15 movements over an hour and a quarter, that celebrates the Christmas story through an imaginative selection and juxtaposition of poetry and liturgical texts. Your reviewer wears several hats, all of which he raises to applaud this piece. As a listener I thoroughly enjoyed it and am pleased to report that Mr Bednall continues to show his gift as a composer who understands melody and harmony, making this an easy listen without descending into easy listening. As a supporter of live music I would be happy to pay (or make a suggested donation) to hear this performed by any of my local choral societies. And as a member of a community choir I would love to try to perform this myself. Steven Whitehead, Crossrhythms.co.uk Bednall's work makes a bright, immediate impression, the idiom accessible without being superficial. BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2013 A welcome wonder indeed ...This spirited and engaging work is a homage to English choral music of the 20th century by a gifted composer and organist in his mid-thirties. Billed as 'a Christmas cantata' Welcome All Wonders springs from the example of creating multi-sectioned sacred works by composers like Britten, Howells and Leighton, all of whom have influenced Bednall's style. The 15-movement piece, running at 80 minutes, is scored for organ, choir and trumpet. In tracing the narrative from Advent to Epiphany, Bednall sets liturgical texts as well as some fine poetry by, amongst others, Pope, Milton, Longfellow and Christina Rosetti. Limelight Magazine, December 2013 **** The many moods of Christmas are explored thoroughly and thoughtfully in this 15 movement Christmas Cantata. Because the Christmas narrative found in the New Testament is so well known, the composer has selected texts that reflect on the meaning of the story; he uses only a few lines from the New Testament in the final movement. From the probing instrumental prelude to the final movement's ecstatic proclamation of the Word made flesh (`In the Beginning'), Bednall has created a welcome opportunity to move beyond the sentimental gentle Jesus meek and mild approach to Christmas and reflect more seriously upon the mystery of the Incarnation. Building on the trumpet motif established in the prelude, a mood of jubilation is set in the of the opening `Alleluia' chorus that concludes with a whoop of joy. The next few movements with texts of Alexander Pope and the Orthodox Church proclaim the promised coming and birth of Jesus. `Journey to Bethlehem', the longest movement, conveys the weariness of the journey and concludes with the plainsong `Hodie Christus Natus Est' sung in unison with muted awe by the women--an ingenious pairing of the arduousness of the journey and the counter theme of rejoicing at this mysterium tremendum et fascinans. Bednall's selection of a text by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, `I Saw a Stable', sensitively proclaims the paradox in the birth of Jesus--a stranger who was both

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