Bednall has composed an upper-voice carol-sequence that manages not to make you miss the tenors and basses, but rather to enjoy the tinselled timbre of the sopranos and altos. The sixth movement, 'Sweet was the song' . . . is an obvious stand-alone movement [available separately from OUP]. More than that, apart from being a very pleasing ballad, it is primarily a unison song. At the other end of the scale of difficulty, the movement that follows is for four unaccompanied voices and is a compelling setting of Robert Herrick's poem 'The New Year's Gift' . . . I've long admired Bednall's fast music - not that he doesn't write good slow music; he really does. But there's a lot of quite slow choral music doing the rounds these days, and when somebody is able to write quick music for choirs, it's worth pouncing on . . . The final movement does what it should and will bring any sensible audience to its feet