Tota pulchra es

for SSATB unaccompanied This simple and exquisite miniature keeps the text, the fourth-century Latin Hymn to the Virgin Mary, at the fore, with instructions from the composer to accent the melodic lines according to word stress rather than position in the bar. The musical style is a fusion of old and new, with plainchant-like melodies and tonality set against expressively dissonant contemporary harmonies. Tota pulchra est was recorded by The Epiphoni Consort on the CD David Bednall: Sudden Light (Delphian, DCD34189)