for upper voices (SSAA) & organ
Text: English (George Herbert)
Duration: c3'30''
Difficulty: 3/5
Use: General, Festival

Composer's note
Let all the world in every corner sing was commissioned by Colston’s Girls’ School in Bristol for the Chamber Choir and their Director of Music Matthew Redman, and was written in August 2008 for the service to mark the school’s acquisition of Academy status. It is a tour-de-force for upper voices – the organ introduction leads to a tapestry of rich variety, climaxing with the choir splitting into four parts for the antiphonal cries against the full organ. The music is highly rhythmic throughout, its time changes dictated by the rhythm and stress of the text.


Recommended recording: David Bednall: Requiem (Regent Records, REGCD327) by The Chamber Choir of St Mary’s Calne, David Bednall (organ), directed by Edward Whiting.


Text
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!
The heavens are not too high, His praise may thither fly;
The earth is not too low, His praises there may grow.
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!


Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!
The church with psalms must shout, no door can keep them out;
But, above all, the heart must bear the longest part.
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!


George Herbert (1593–1633)


David Bednall
David Bednall has a growing reputation as one of the leading choral composers of his generation, and studied for a PhD in Composition with Professor John Pickard at the University of Bristol. He has an extensive freelance playing and conducting career, and is Organist of The University of Bristol, Sub Organist at Bristol Cathedral, and conducts The University Singers. He studied with Dr Naji Hakim and David Briggs and was Assistant Organist at Wells Cathedral. The first recording of his work, Hail, gladdening light, was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice, and the CD Flame Celestial received a Gramophone Recommendation. The recording of his Requiem received similar accolades. A number of his works have been broadcast on radio, and recent work has included Missa Sancti Pauli for St Paul’s Cathedral, and Welcome All Wonders for The Queen’s College, Oxford. The latter is his largest work to date and the recording on Signum has garnered superb international critical acclaim.