David Bednall, The Choir Of The Queen's College, Oxford, Owen Rees - Welcome All Wonders: A Christmas Cantata

Published Thursday 7th November 2013
David Bednall, The Choir Of The Queen's College, Oxford, Owen Rees - Welcome All Wonders: A Christmas Cantata
David Bednall, The Choir Of The Queen's College, Oxford, Owen Rees  - Welcome All Wonders: A Christmas Cantata

STYLE: Choral
RATING 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 146726-
LABEL: Signum Classics SIGCD335
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 1

Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

The Queen's College, Oxford is renowned for its wide-ranging and imaginative repertory, ranging from Renaissance and Baroque works to new commissions. This first recording on Signum - under director Owen Rees - takes its title from the eponymous work by English composer David Bednall, commissioned and premiered by the choir in 2011. '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. I am confident that our leading soprano could cope although perhaps not as well as Esther Mallett on this recording. However the piece does feature a trumpet, here played by Simon Desbruslais. 'Welcome All Wonders' is a vocal piece but the ornamentation supplied by the solo trumpet does add a great deal of interest and I feel that a live performance without a sufficiently skilled trumpeter would fall flat. That, however, is a challenge for another day. For now I shall enjoy this recording and recommend that any listeners with an interest in contemporary choral music seek it out at the earliest opportunity.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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