“With each new exposure to the music of 30-year old organist and composer David Bednall, I become ever more impressed with both the quality of his writing and its originality. Here, with the evocative passage for viola and organ which opens his Requiem we have something quite special. It helps, of course, that accompanying the richly expressive playing of Philip Dukes we have the composer himself at the organ, and with the entry of the impeccably poised Chamber Choir from St Mary’s School, Calne in Wiltshire, we are clearly hearing performers who are deeply committed to a work which they themselves premiered in 2008. But the music stretches far beyond the commitment of these superb performers and makes a significant new contribution to the already fertile genre of Latin Requiems composed by English composers. Echoes of the Duruflé may resound a little too strongly for comfort in the “Domine Jesu Christe” but otherwise the work shows considerable distinction.
Edward Whiting has achieved a remarkable sound from his choir of 43 girls aged 14-18, their unison singing moulded to perfection and the lovely nuances of tone colour and phrase-shaping delicately and subtly managed. Once or twice the sound may take on a slightly bland quality but this is invariably dissipated by Bednall’s resourceful organ support, and my guess is that once this work passes on to other performers and away from the composer’s own immediate influence it won’t be long before he orchestrates this. I can’t imagine many other organists achieving the same compelling quasi-orchestral effects as he does on the Marlborough College Chapel organ used in this recording.
As a new addition to the Requiem repertoire and as a performance in its own right, this disc is a resounding success and the addition of three unaccompanied motets only adds to the very high regard with which which I now hold both the composer and choir. By any standards this is an impressive acheivement.”
Mark Rochester, Gramophone, May 2010
“This is my Discovery of the Year. I described this 55-minute Requiem by the young British composer, David Bednall as “one of the most beautiful, imaginative and moving pieces of modern choral music that I have heard for quite some time.” I haven’t changed my mind. It’s beautifully performed by the Chamber Choir of St, Mary’s School, Calne. Bednall’s imaginative use of a solo viola works really well and he himself plays the organ part magnificently. This is a very significant addition to the choral repertoire and its first recording is a notable event.”
John Quinn, Music Web International Recordings of the Year 2010
“You might be forgiven for thinking that St Mary’s Calne is a church. It is in fact a Girls’ Public School in Wiltshire. Its celebrated Chamber Choir is directed by Edward Whiting, a former organ scholar of The Queen’s College, Oxford. David Bednall, also a former Queen’s College Organ Scholar, is now Sub Organist of Bristol Cathedral, a post he combines with PhD research studies, organ recitals and composition. He is already being hailed as an exciting voice in choral writing and this CD clearly justifies his celebrity. His renowned gifts as an improviser (he was a pupil of Naji Hakim and David Briggs) also add freshness and spontaneity to his compositions.
You can’t mention the word Requiem in church music circles without immediately thinking of Fauré and Duruflé, though not necessarily in that order! It must be said that here Duruflé is never far away, but that does not mean that this is mere plagiarism. Some of the master’s textures and effects are here, and the melismatic ‘plainsong’ lines are to be found here and there, but there is an individuality and originality present also.
I have a rule when reviewing CDs that I listen before I look; that is to say, I listen to the CD in its entirety before I read any of the information in the booklet. Consequently I heard a fantastic cello opening the Requiem; such richness and depth of tone could not come from another stringed instrument. Imagine my shock then when I later discovered that the source of this ecstatic sound was a viola! I now know that Philip Dukes is responsible for this. The Times calls him ‘Great Britain’s most out-standing viola player’. I didn’t know violas were capable of the sounds that Philip can extract. This alone is reason to purchase the CD.
Another reason would be the glorious organ in Marlborough College Chapel played with great aplomb by David Bednall.
The last reason would be the superb 40-strong choir whose musicianship, tuning and diction are exceptional.
The opening prelude is a plaintive viola solo with organ accompaniment, perhaps redolent of Vaughan Williams. The choir enters at Introït and from there we are carried on a journey of inspired melody and sumptuous harmony, best described perhaps as post-Romantic French and English. The electric Libera me section has Duruflé looking over David’s shoulder with all those consecutive 3rds. The clangour subsides with the return of the soulful viola before Miriam Thiede’s Hostias solo. The viola closes with the choir singing ‘quam olim Abrahae’. The concise Sanctus builds quickly to a climax on top B flat from the 1st sopranos, the ensuing Benedictus providing a peaceful cadence to what is essentially one movement. Rebecca Rothwell is fearless in the chromatic Pie Jesu where she battles (successfully) against a rich organ accompaniment. The viola and organ introduce and accompany Lux aeterna. Communion – Interlude, for viola and organ, has an improvisatory feel and, at over 7 minutes’ duration, is one of the longest movements. The Libera me has all the requisite menace; with its marching pedal David creates unearthly effects with organ and viola (tremolo) for the section ‘tremens factus sunt ego et timeo’. Dies irae has tremendous rhythmic drive with organ, choir and viola all vying for supremacy – the organ eventually wins – out of which comes a return to a heart-felt plea: Libera me. The last movement, In paradisum, is exquisitely beautiful, combing all the forces in a quiet statement of hope.
Three short works follow: O come let us sing, which sets the first 2 verses of the Venite (Psalm 95), a haunting Salvator mundi, and a gloriously energetic Let all the world.
This is a remarkable achievement on all fronts and I commend it most warmly. David Bednall is certainly a name to look out for. My congratulations on significant and accessible contributions to the repertoire.”
Andrew Fletcher, Organists’ Review, May 2010
“David Bednall’s atmospheric Requiem is sung here by the schoolgirl choir for whom it was originally composed. Highly reminiscent of Howells’s and Duruflé’s requiems, with its musical evocations of heavenly light, it also sounds captivatingly individual and contemporary. The use of a solo viola, played with beseeching warmth by Dukes, is particularly effective. While one has every right to be dubious of a school choir, the girls’ performances go far beyond the expected standard for a non- specialist music school. It’s beautiful singing, with lovely tone and technique particularly in the upper registers. The soloists are strong.”
CG. Classic FM Magazine, May, 2010
“This Requiem by the young English composer David Bednall is structurally modelled on those of Fauré and Duruflé, with the addition of two movements featuring solo viola. In idiom it is much closer to Duruflé, for although Bednall doesn’t directly quote plainsong he acknowledges it is ‘undoubtedly an influence’, and the shape of the melodic writing strongly recalls the use Duruflé made of plainsong in his own masterly setting.
The Chamber Choir (all-girl) of St Mary’s Calne, for whom Bednall’s Requiem was written, phrase the mainly unison opening sections with expert fluidity, and a mature understanding of how plainsong influences the music’s rhythmic movement. There are fine soloists too, Miriam Theide in the ‘Domine Jesu Christe’, and Rebecca Rothwell in a ‘Pie Jesu’ that stretches into unsettlingly chromatic territory.
Though Bednall argues that the viola has an ‘important part’ in the Requiem, it’s unclear that it’s organically indispensable, and I wonder if this fine, tuneful work’s potential audience might not be considerably expanded by preparation of an alternative performing edition with viola omitted. Much as the girls’ voices excel in this recording, I’d like to see and SATB version made available, for similar reasons.”
Terry Blain, BBC Music Magazine, June 2010
“I remember hearing David Bednall play the organ on occasions when he was Organ Scholar at Gloucester Cathedral (2000-2002) but I don’t recall hearing any of his music during that time. He subsequently worked at Wells Cathedral (2002-2007) before taking up his present post as Sub Organist at Bristol Cathedral. So it will be seen that he’s well steeped in the English Cathedral tradition. It’s relevant to know that in connection with the music on this CD. So too is it important to know that his distinguished organ teachers have included David Briggs and Naji Hakim, both of who must have played a role in imparting to him the influence of French organ music. The last relevant connection is with The Queen’s College, Oxford, where he was Organ Scholar immediately before coming to Gloucester. There he met Edward Whiting, the current Director of Music at St. Mary’s School, Calne, who was also an Organ Scholar at the college.
It was Whiting who suggested to Bednall that he might write a Requiem for the St Mary’s choir and what began as a Missa Brevis in 2007 had been expanded by the following year into a twelve movement Requiem, lasting some fifty-five minutes.
I’m not going to beat about the bush. David Bednall’s Requiem is, in my view, one of the most beautiful, imaginative and moving pieces of modern choral music that I have heard for quite some time. Had I read the composer’s very good notes before listening for the first time I would probably have been prejudiced in the work’s favour from the outset for he tells us that two works that he greatly admires are Duruflé’s Requiem and Hymnus Paradisi by Howells. Both of these lovely, luminous works are pieces that I admire and love greatly and it’s evident that Bednall has been inspired in a wholly beneficial way by these two masterpieces. Yet his Requiem is far from a pastiche of either. He’s his own man and the new work is shot through with originality.
One stroke of genius is the incorporation of a substantial part for solo viola, here superbly played by Philip Dukes. The viola and organ have two purely instrumental movements – the first and the tenth. Elsewhere, the viola, though it doesn’t feature in every movement, adds a wonderful additional timbre to the musical textures. The instrument’s husky, sensuous and often passionate sound contrasts tellingly with the chaste purity of the girls’ voices. Listeners may sometimes be reminded, especially in the opening Prelude, of the sound world of Flos Campi by Vaughan Williams.
I’m not sure if Bednall had Flos Campi in mind at all when conceiving his own work but as one listens to the Requiem one is conscious that this is a composition by someone who has an expert knowledge of French music – and not just the Duruflé Requiem – of the English choral tradition, and of plainsong. Besides the presence of the viola the other signal feature of this work is the scoring for upper voices only. Quite a lot of the choral writing is in unison. So far as I could tell without a score the choir goes into no more than two parts except, perhaps, for an excursion into three parts in the ‘Agnus Dei’. If that sounds dull or restricted please rest assured it’s not. Bednall writes some beautiful melodic material for his singers – long, expressive lines are a speciality – and when the writing divides into parts the harmonies are invariably beguiling.
No praise could be too high for the performance of the St Mary’s choir. The choir comprises forty-eight singers, aged between 14 and 18. They sing with the most beautiful, clear and fresh tone. Tuning, diction and blend are all flawless and their commitment to the music is palpable. There are two movements that feature soloists. In the first of these, ‘Domine Jesu Christe’, Miriam Thiede sings very well indeed. She has a warm voice with a nice mezzo tint and I enjoyed her performance very much. Bednall follows Duruflé and, of course, Fauré in giving the ‘Pie Jesu’ to a solo voice, here the excellent Rebecca Rothwell. She has a challenging solo, for unlike the aforementioned French masters, Bednall, though he begins the movement in tranquillity, develops it to a passionate central climax , which is most exacting, especially for a young singer. Miss Rothwell is undaunted and delivers the climax with great assurance before managing the wind-down to the movement’s pacific conclusion very well indeed.
As you might expect, given that the composer is an expert organist, the Requiem features an extremely important organ part. Playing on the recently restored organ in Marlborough College Chapel, David Bednall is superbly inventive in his registrations, often providing wonderfully nasal, French- sounding reedy textures.
Every time I’ve played this work through I’ve come to admire it more. I have one slight question mark in my mind. On the recording the viola is well balanced against the organ and the choir. However, I do wonder how easy it would be to hear the viola in live performances, especially in some of the louder passages in which the instrument features.
I have no doubt at all that David Bednall’s Requiem is a very significant addition to the choral repertoire and I hope that this superb recorded performance will bring it to the attention of a wide audience and lead to other choirs taking it up. I should imagine it’s a challenging work to sing and a successful performance will require also the involvement of an expert violist and an equally proficient organist who has access to a top quality organ. I love the purity of the sound of the high voices and I appreciate that this is what makes this work so distinctive and special. That said, I would urge David Bednall to consider arranging the work also for four-part SATB choir. I readily acknowledge that such an arrangement would alter the sound world of the Requiem significantly but I’m sure mixed choirs would love to take it into their repertoire.
The three short anthems that follow the Requiem are all most attractive and Regent have done Bednall proud with excellent sound and a very well produced booklet. Anyone who is interested in choral music should try to hear this wonderful disc.”
John Quinn, Music Web International, June 2010 – Disc of the Month
“31-year-old David Bednall has entered into a most auspicious competition in trying to write a Requiem. Of all liturgical works, this one has perhaps the greatest number of greatest exponents of the form, ranging from those of the ancients to Verdi’s scary-as-hell choral opera, to Fauré’s St. Peter- is-waiting-for-you, to the Brahms deconstructionist version of that entity that doesn’t really exist, the Protestant Requiem. Bednall admits that the primary influences in this work are the Fauré and Duruflé pieces, along with a smattering of Herbert Howells’ Hymnus paradisi, a work I have always enjoyed though I find it a tad extended.
Bednall is an organist, and so it should come as no surprise that the organ features prominently in this piece, to both subtle and full-force effect. The addition of a solo viola was a stroke of genius, as it adds a degree of pathos and illumination to the whole. In fact, so interesting is the viola part that I think it would be a shame indeed were the composer not to extract a lot of this music into some sort of “Requiem Sonata” for viola and organ or piano. No thanks needed, Mr. Bednall.
The music sounds chant-like all through, though the composer in the notes assures us that not a quaver of chant was used, though it did inspire much of the music. The high voices add a tinge of the exotically esoteric, religiously speaking, as their calmness does inspire one to thoughts of “higher” things, surely the intention in the scoring. None of this is hard to grasp, most of it beauteously consoling, and Bednall has written a work that ranks among the very best things I have heard on the liturgical/sacred concert front. He should be proud of the effort, and I hope he will slowly branch out into some other genres so we can see what he can do.
The three anthems here are a little more direct in their emotional appeal, but that is what anthems are supposed to be. The acoustics are excellent, the recording fine, the viola superb, the organ registrations thoughtful and apt… this is a thoroughly enjoyable release that all but the curmudgeonliest listener is bound to take a liking to.
The choir of St. Mary’s Calne, by the way, is from a boarding school for girls in Wiltshire, around 310 of them aged 11–18. They can certainly sing.”
Steven E. Ritter, Fanfare Magazine, July 2010
“Bednall’s Requiem of 2007 was commissioned for the choir on this CD, the Chamber Choir of St. Mary’s Calne, a girls’ school in the west of England. It begins, most unusually, and very effectively, with an extended solo for viola, discreetly accompanied by the organ—the very sound of the viola evoking echoes of Vaughan Williams. But with the entry of the girls’ voices Bednall’s French inclinations soon become audible—he mentions Duruflé as an influence, a presence underlined by the chant-inflected sobriety of approach, until the Kyrie morphs into a close cousin of the Fauré Requiem. Often in this piece, the sense of innocence imparted by the girls’ voices finds a direct contrast in the asperity of the organ writing, and Bednall keeps the solo viola in readiness for occasional deployment to create yet further textural relief, the instrumental line threading its ways around and through the voices… Let All the World (2008), the last of the three anthems that fill out the disc, is an exuberant outburst of energy, the voices and organ bouncing off each other in rhythmic enthusiasm.”
Martin Anderson, Fanfare Magazine, July 2010
“Confirming the promise of his 2007 debut – Hail, gladdening Light – David Bednall’s Requiem, his largest piece to date, is a hauntingly beautiful work for high voices sung with well-proportioned, sweet sincerity by the St Mary’s Calne Chamber Choir, and expressively underpinned by the composer on organ and Philip Dukes’s keening, darkly luminous viola. The three coupled anthems let in light with O come let us sing, a re-working of Bednall’s airy setting of Psalm 95, and flex emotional and vocal muscle in the sober Salvator mundi and thumping rhythmic ebullience of an especially rousing take on Let all the world.”
Michael Quinn, Choir and Organ, May 2010
“David Bednall is a freelance composer as well as sub-organist at Bristol Cathedral. His Requiem for the rather unusual combination of treble choir, solo viola, and organ; he sets the same condensation of the Latin text as did Fauré and Duruflé and even follows them in entrusting the Pie Jesu to a solo soprano. The solo viola, exquisitely played by Philip Dukes, appears with the organ in a reflective Prelude and after the Lux aeterna in a Communion-Interlude. The latter is an extended (seven minutes plus) piece with some sections of grief and others of pleasant memory. Much of the choral writing is unison, and the 43 girls (ages 14 to 18) produce a beautifully smooth unison sound. Divisions into parts are perfectly balanced, and the tone quality throughout is appealing. Edward Whiting uses the organ (sic) in Marlborough College Chapel with sensitivity and assurance. The programme concludes with three short motets of Bednall: O come let us sing unto the Lord, Salvator mundi (text from the Good Friday Liturgy), and Let all the world in every corner sing. These are fine anthem-length selections that would appeal to a well-trained treble choir.”
Association of Anglican Musicians, May 2010
“It’s difficult to decide what is more extraordinary about British composer David Bednall’s (born in 1979) Requiem: its complete effectiveness as a musically successful, contemporary, liturgically functional Requiem, or the fact that although Bednall’s musical language is unabashedly conservative, it sounds entirely fresh and free of cliché. His harmonic language is close to that of his predecessors in the British Cathedral Choral tradition, but unlike most of those who adopt that language, he is able to avoid the haunting influence of Howells, Vaughan Williams, Britten, and Rutter, and develop a voice of his own. Economically scored for viola, organ, and women’s voices, the Requiem is notable for Bednall’s sensitivity to the meanings of the texts of each of the movements, which he conveys not only in ways that fulfill the listener’s expectations (i.e., In Paradisium is appropriately radiant and serene), but with an insightful creativity that brings out new levels of nuance in the texts. There are no missteps; each movement is aptly and beautifully set, with both sophistication and simplicity. The use of a viola is brilliantly appropriate because of its unique tonal capabilities, which can range from the most somber to the most luminous and several lovely movements are scored only for viola and organ. Bednall’s text-setting is transparent and natural; this is a score that would not be beyond the reach of a disciplined amateur choir, but there is nothing about it that feels dumbed-down. The composer provides the chaste organ accompaniment, and violist Philip Dukes plays with warmly understated lyricism. The Chamber Choir of St. Mary’s Calne, led by Edward Whiting, is made up of middle school and high school girls. They sing with purity, unmannered sweetness, and excellent intonation. Only in a few very high passages does their tone tend to get a little thin. Soloists Miriam Thiede and Rebecca Rothwell are very fine. This is a work that should be of strong interest to fans of new liturgical music and lyrical choral music.”
Stephen Eddins, All Music Guide
“Bednall’s Requiem has intended echoes of Fauré and Duruflé, but with a wider emotional range, the solo viola accompaniment adding a dark, keening edge, while the organ in the Domine Jesu Christe and instrumental Communion Interlude drag the mood towards grief. But the underlying mood is optimistic and the work – along with the other three on the disc – rewards performers and listener with its mellifluous luminosity. The choir of women’s voices performes with polish and panache.”
Classical Music 13th March 2010, Recording of the Fortnight
“Mixing imagination with musical traditions, David Bednall’s recently completed and extensive Requiem is one of the most enjoyable British choral works to have emerged for decades. Avoiding modern atonality, it is a score that challenges singers and fascinates the ear. The accompaniment for viola and organ is so skilfully deployed you feel it is a chamber orchestra. The girls from the Wiltshire school of St Mary’s, Calne, are superb by any standard and Bednall’s organ playing is thrilling.”
DD, Yorkshire Post, 26th March 2010
“The Prelude to David Bednall’s Requiem features the internationally-renowned viola player Philip Dukes and sets the scene in a suitably atmospheric manner, reminding us somewhat of Tavener’s “Protecting Veil” played in a higher register. The piece continues at the top end, so to speak, by using The Chamber Choir of St Mary’s Calne which is an all-girl ensemble. Soloists are Miriam Thiede in “Domine Jesu Christe” and Rebecca Rothwell in “Pie Jesu”. Neither disappoints. David Bednall, who is also the featured organist on this recording, writes beautiful melodies which, for this reviewer, are stronger than his choral writing. This is not to criticise the choir, which sings well throughout, but merely an observation which is borne out in the instrumental “Communion – Interlude”. One would not wish to appear to patronise the choir by pointing out that it is a school choir and so, perhaps, the composer did not want to over extend himself. Be assured that these young ladies are every bit as accomplished as most cathedral and Oxbridge choirs. Perhaps instead we should go back to our opening remarks and look at this as having a sacred simplicity such as we would find in Tavener or Pärt. I enjoyed it very much. The CD concludes with three shorter choral works: “O Come Let Us Sing”, “Salvator Mundi”, and “Let All The World”. All three would make welcome additions to any choir’s repertoire and we hope and expect to hear much more from composer and choir in the future.”
Steven Whitehead, Cross Rhythms Website, 28th January 2010
“David Bednall is another composer who has picked up the tradition of Howells and takes it towards new horizons, in this case mingled with twentieth-century French harmonies and timbres. It is frequently restless music, searching and striving, not least in the uneasy ‘Libera me’. But the following ‘In paradisum’ is all the more of a contrast as the vocal ‘chorus angelorum’ is led by solo viola to eternal light and peace. The musical techniques used are traditional but applied with skill and an emotional sincerity that results in a disturbing and rewarding piece. The chamber choir of St Mary’s Calne, 43 girls between 14 and 18, should be hugely proud of the vivid sound and mature musicianship they display”.
Judith Markwith, Church Music Quarterly March 2010
“Since his appointment as Organ Scholar at Gloucester Cathedral in 2000, Mr. Bednall has impressed widely through his playing and composing. This Requiem (an expanded version of a Missa Brevis from 2007, with new movements including viola/organ interludes) is poignant and thoughtful, and the exquisite performance by the St. Mary’s girls (middle-school and high-school ages, singing with a notable unity of pitch and ensemble) is equally notable. Search this one out!”
Minnesota Public Radio, 28th January 2010
