for mixed choir (SATB div) a cappella
Text: English (W B Yeats)
Duration: 2'00''
Difficulty: 4/5
Use: Love, General


Originally part of David Bednall’s Three Songs of Love, the short section which sets W B Yeats’ poem He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven (‘Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths’) is here presented as a separate octavo publication. The warmth and passion of the text is portrayed in the highly expressive music, which is tied very closely to the words, with lavish harmonies presented in homophony with frequent divisi.


Texts
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.


W B Yeats


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.