Audio

Sound files

Sound files for individual pieces can be found on their dedicated pages: click on the WORKS link above. You’ll find my work on Spotify, iTunes et al.

In addition, the following may be purchased as mp3s or CD albums at Amazon.

Old Age

Ian McMillan’s fine poem, set to music by F L Dunkin Wedd, and beautifully performed here by Lawrence Wallington (bass-baritone) and Christopher Gould (piano).

Sunset Over the Weald

“Another fine collection of works by this composer highlighting the often masterly ability that he has in setting texts” – The Classical Reviewer

Track listing:

1. Sunset over the Weald          6’ 16”
Played by The Burrells Brass Quintet: Matilda Lloyd and Katie Lodge – trumpets; Jake Rowe – horn; William Barnes-McCallum – trombone; Nic Walker – tuba.
2. Harp Song of the Dane Women          4’ 30”
Poem by Rudyard Kipling. Sung by Elspeth Marrow with Christopher Gould, piano.
3. Remember          2’ 30”
Poem by Christina Rossetti. Sung by Elspeth Marrow with Christopher Gould, piano.
4. Invictus           3’ 30”
Poem by W E Henley. Sung by Roberto Mancusi with Johnathan Vest, piano.
5. Flowers of Zen          3’ 30”
Haiku poems by Bashō, translated by Lucien Stryk. Sung by Eleanor Meynell with Christopher Gould, piano.
6. Three Women’s Poems from World War One           6’ 14”
Poems by Eleanor Farjeon, Margaret Postgate Cole, and Winifred M Letts.
Sung by Dilys Benson, with Clifford Benson, piano.

Lorelei – plus Brancusi and RUAH

Lorelei is an EP of music quite different from anything on the earlier Like Water and Like Wind. It contains three tracks:

• Lorelei (approx 4 mins)
• Brancusi (approx 6 mins)
• RUAH: Meditations on the Breath of God (approx 8 mins)

F L Dunkin Wedd writes:

The first two tracks use musique concrète – music made not by instruments, but from recorded sounds of various kinds* while RUAH is for choir and organ.

Lorelei was completed in January 2015: three female voices speak words and phrases over the sound of lapping water. The water sound was recorded near the home of my beloved aunt, Noël Carr who died in December 2014; it is therefore partly a loving tribute to her.

In Brancusi (2008) a single vocal line floats above a backing of industrial and other sounds. It’s in honour of one of my favourite sculptors, Constantin Brancusi, and sung here by one of my favourite mezzos, Susan Legg.

RUAH (2006) is for choir and organ, mainly conventional but using some unusual vocal techniques at the beginning. It sets texts from Tanakh, Ketuvim, Koran and New Testament, and focuses on ‘the Breath of God’ – a concept common to Judaism, Islam and Christianity. And it’s a thanksgiving for the gift of singing.

* Pierre Schaeffer described musique concrète thus: “Instead of notating musical ideas on paper… and entrusting their realization to well-known instruments, the question was to collect concrete sounds, wherever they came from, and to abstract the musical values they were potentially containing…”

Performers:

Lorelei uses the voices of Helen Chater, Mary Rae and Carole Howlett
Brancusi is performed by Susan Legg, mezzo-soprano
RUAH is by The Tamesis Consort, Jonathan Wikeley and Martyn Noble

Like Water and Like Wind

A selection of Dunkin Wedd’s music for strings.

‘You sense that you are being taken on a wonderful music adventure to places far and near, without having to travel any further than your own CD player’
– BBC Music magazine, March 2015

‘A composer of great versatility yet with a clearly defined personal style. His music deserves a wider audience, particularly his very fine third quartet.’
– The Classical Reviewer

On the CD:

Three Brunel Crossings †
Rotherhithe – Saltash – Clifton.
This piece is primarily concerned with rhythm. It combines classical forms with rhythms from jazz, folk and Latin-American styles, with a dash of minimalism.

Django ‡
A cheerful ten minute piece for violin and piano written in the year 2000, Django is a jazz sonata in four movements. It takes its name from Django Reinhardt, the amazing gypsy fiddler turned guitarist.

Homage to Luis *
This piece from 1996 is for string quartet, and is my homage to the composer’s uncle Luis Wedd (1913 – 1945), who took his own life.

Piano Trio §
9. Township Stomp ~ 10. Slow ~ 11. Morrish Dance ~ 12. Finale

String Quartet No 3 *
First Fine Careless Rapture – Second – Scherzo (Canonballs) – Final Fling
The piece from 2001 was commissioned by her parents for Gillian Ripley on her graduation. The score is inscribed with Browning’s lines:

    That’s the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
    Lest you think he never can recapture
    The first fine careless rapture.

Like Water and Like Wind †
Like Water and Like Wind, written in 2004, uses serial technique – but as a point of departure not as a straitjacket.
The objective was to use serial technique to generate music that moves the spirit: the emotional content of this deeply personal music is exemplified in the title and the verses from which it is drawn.

Performers
* The Bingham String Quartet: Steve Bingham, Marina Gillam violins; Brenda Stewart viola; James Halsey cello
† The Bingham String Ensemble: Steve Bingham conductor; Jeff Moore, Gill Ripley, Phil Aird, Marina Gillam, Hazel Correa, Jamie Foreman violins; Brenda Stewart, Nichola Blakey violas; Nicky Anderson, Viv Williams cellos; Chi-chi Nwanoku bass
‡ Steve Bingham violin; Maurice Hodges piano
§ Steve Bingham violin; James Halsey cello; Maurice Hodges piano