In Celebration of the Human Voice - The Essential Musical Instrument

Sir Richard Rodney Bennett

Born: 1936. Died: 2012. Lived in: England
English composer and pianist. He studied at the RAM (1953-7) and with Boulez in Paris (1957-9), though his public career as a composer had begun before this. At 16 he was writing 12-note music, and the period with Boulez encouraged him towards Darmstadt techniques. But in the 1960s he recovered more conventional aspects to develop a style of Bergian expressionism (e.g. in his opera The Mines of Sulphur, 1965); his opera Victory was given at Covent Garden in 1970. His subsequent output is large, including many concertos, settings of English poetry, chamber music, and, notably, big Romantic film scores. A musician of great versatility, he has worked as a jazz pianist (several of his scores of the 1960s are in a sophisticated jazz style) and has played and arranged American popular music.

Songbooks, Arrangements and/or Media

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Richard Rodney Bennett : Four American Carols

Bennett's first collection of choral pieces written specifically for the Christmas season. These four carols to American texts recall traditional music of the New World.

Songlist: Away In A Manger, A Child Of God, I Wonder As I Wander, Rise Up, Shepherd, And Follow

Richard Rodney Bennett : Spells

This is the Vocal Score for Richard Rodney Bennett's Spells, a work for Soprano Soloist, SATB Chorus and Orchestra. Commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the work sets poems by Kathleen Raine, and lasts around 36 minutes.

Individual Folios

Displaying 1-8 of 8 items.

Richard Rodney Bennett : Introit - One Equal Music

Commissioned by the Frank Clarke-Whitfield Trust and the Three Choirs Festival for the choir of Hereford Cathedral and Geraint Bowenand first performed on 22 July 2012 at the Festival Eucharist.

Composer: Richard Rodney Bennett

Richard Rodney Bennett : My Dancing Day

Commissioned by Jerry Johnson and VocalEssence in memory of JoAnn Catherine Johnson First performed on 7th December 2008 at the VocalEssence 'Welcome Christmas' concert. For SATB unaccompanied chorus. Includes a Piano part in the score for rehearsal purposes.

Composer: Richard Rodney Bennett

Richard Rodney Bennett : New Year Carol

Richard Rodney Bennett was a significant voice in 20th and 21st century music until his passing in December 2012. This short a cappella work for SATB voices is a setting of the anonymous New Year Carol with interesting harmonic and rhythmic devices and is included on the Signum My Dancing Day CD recorded by the BBC Singers.

Composer: Richard Rodney Bennett

Richard Rodney Bennett : Nowell, Nowell, Tidings True

Richard Rodney Bennett's Nowell, Nowell, Tidings True sets a 15th century carol that tells of the Angel Gabriel's visit to the Virgin Mary. This work is for SATB choir unaccompanied. Duration: 4 minutes 30 seconds.

Composer: Richard Rodney Bennett

Richard Rodney Bennett : One Day

Composed by the great French musician Michel Legrand and arranged by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, this beautiful ballad has found its way onto the King's Singers most recent album Finding Harmony. The text of this song hopes for a better and sweeter world, where war and division are a distant memory. The arrangement is filled with the characteristically rich and colorful harmony, taking the listener to unexpected keys and beautifully dissonant chords which often unfold from a single note out into radiant conclusions.

Arranger: Richard Rodney Bennett | Composer: Michel Legrand

Richard Rodney Bennett : The Apple Tree

Richard Rodney Bennett's setting of the eighteenth-century American folk poem, The Apple Tree, for unaccompanied SATB chorus displays mastery of the poetic idiom and a rigorous and concise musical language.

Composer: Richard Rodney Bennett

Richard Rodney Bennett : The Holly and the Ivy

Commissioned and recorded by the Choirs of All Saints' Church, Northampton, this short original setting for unaccompanied mixed voices has all the interesting qualities of Richard Rodney Bennett's choral works with delightfully unpredictable harmonies and a spritely rhythmic treatment.

Composer: Richard Rodney Bennett