Edexcel A2 Applied Music Set Works 2014 part 1: Taverner and Haydn

The five Applied Music set works for the Edexcel A2 Unit 6 (6Mu06) examination in June 2014 include music covering a period of over 400 years. Two of the works, Taverner’s O Wilhelme, pastor bone and Haydn’s ‘Quoniam tu solus’ from the ‘Nelson’ Mass, are sacred hymns of praise from, respectively, the Renaissance and Classical eras. Then we are plunged into the depths of Romantic dramatic music in the shape of Wagner’s iconic Prelude to Tristan und Isolde, which, albeit indirectly, influenced many of the film composers of the 20th century, such as James Horner, whose ‘Take her to sea, Mr Murdoch’ from the 1997 film score Titanic is our fourth piece. The final work is completely different – the traditional song Yellow Bird in the calypso style of Trinidad.