Benjamin BRITTEN (1913-1975)
Choral Music
Festival Te Deum [5:59]
A Hymn to the Virgin [3:17]
Missa Brevis [10:13]
Hymn to St. Cecilia [11:02]
Rejoice in the Lamb [15:38]
Choral Dances from ‘Gloriana’ [8:46]
Jubilate Deo [2:26]
Carry Her Over the Water [2:27]
Deus in Adjutorium Meum [5:35]
Jubilate Deo [2:32]
St.John’s College Choir, Cambridge/George Guest
(Te Deum, Virgin)
Worcester Cathedral Choir/Donald Hunt (Missa)
New College Choir, Oxford/David Lumsden
(Cecilia)
Purcell Singers/Benjamin Britten (Rejoice)
LSO Chorus/George Malcolm
(Gloriana)
Trinity College Choir Cambridge/Richard Marlow (Jubilates,
Carry Her, Deus)
rec. 1961-1978 in various locations
ALTO ALC1433 [73:44]
Vocal music, solo or choral, occupies a central place in Britten’s output, and here we have an interesting selection of his smaller-scale works – mostly short pieces, and all either unaccompanied or with organ. Some of England’s finest collegiate choirs are represented, as are several outstanding choral conductors, including Britten himself.
However, be warned; none of these recordings is newer than forty-two years old (that is, according to information provided), and there is a wide variety of sound quality and acoustic ambience. Part of the attraction of this CD, though, is that it tracks the central core of Britten’s composing career, all the way from the
‘Hymn to the Virgin’ of 1930, when he was just 16, through to the
‘Jubilate Deo’ and ‘Venite Exultemus Domino’ of 1961.
It is a real pity that Alto have given such scant information about the recordings. I have had to plumb the deep resources of the internet to find the original sources of some of these tracks. First up is the Choir of St.John’s College Cambridge, who, under George Guest made so many wonderful recordings in the 1960s and 70s. It seems that the ‘Festival Te Deum’ and
‘A Hymn to the Virgin’ were recorded for Argo in 1962, making them some of the oldest recordings here.
The ‘Te Deum’ is done beautifully, although the singing, particularly of the tenors and basses, is very much ‘of its time’. Guest did however develop a bright, open sound from his trebles which is much more modern in character. The
‘Hymn to the Virgin’ is not so successful; Guest is far too ‘expressive’, and loses some of that special detached quality of Britten’s music. Of course there is great intensity of feeling there, but deliberately half-hidden behind that characteristic coolness.
Next comes the Choir of Worcester Cathedral under Donald Hunt. They give us a mostly excellent performance of the lovely ‘Missa Brevis’ for boys’ voices and organ of 1959. This piece, just ten minutes long, has been quite influential on choral composers. The Agnus Dei, with its strange dissonances in the organ and haunted atmosphere always comes to my mind when I hear John Rutter’s setting of the same text in his Requiem. There are some well sung solos too, and such a pity that Alto have not credited them or the organist.
New College Choir, Oxford appear to have recorded the 'Hymn to St. Cecilia' in 1977. They make a fair fist of it, and a brave one too, for this is not really music conceived for an all-male choir with youngsters on the top line. Unfortunately, the recording is pretty dreadful, with the voices murkily deprived of all their natural brightness and beauty.
Much more successful is the next track, with its performance of the short cantata ‘Rejoice in the Lamb’. It is conducted by the composer himself, so maybe that’s why we suddenly get the names of the soloists and organist – George Malcolm no less – which are notably absent for all the other tracks. Nevertheless, ‘Rejoice in the Lamb’
is a wonderfully crazy piece, setting the equally wonderful and crazy verse of Christopher Smart, the 18th century poet who wrote much of his output while confined in an asylum.
As you’d expect, Britten conveys the character of the work strongly. But the choral and solo singing are no more than adequate, and the recording is not great either; for example, the crucial entry of Donald Francke, the bass soloist, at the words ‘For H is a spirit’ is virtually inaudible. Despite that, though, the passion and imagination of the performance is palpable, though there are many finer versions on CD, my personal recommendation being Kings College Choir under Philip Ledger on EMI, as part of their British Composers series (with the bonus of a certain James Bowman delivering the alto solo
‘For the Mouse is a Creature of Great Personal Valour’!).
I’ll pass discreetly by the Choral Dances from the ill-fated opera ‘Gloriana’ – almost impossible to listen to, with the London Symphony Chorus overpoweringly loud, and badly distorted too.
But the last five short tracks, featuring Trinity College Choir under Richard Marlow, are some of the most enjoyable on the CD. As far as I can tell, these recordings were made in the mid-1980s (thus later than the dates given by Alto), and are well recorded, meticulously prepared performances. The short song
‘Carry Her Over the Water’ from the early opera Paul Bunyan was new to me, and exquisitely lovely. The choir is superb in ‘Deus Adjutorium Meum’, with its mixture of declamatory unison and rhythmic chanting, the accents for
‘Deus’ etc. sharply emphasised. All these numbers are achieved to perfection by the youthful mixed voices of Richard Marlow’s ensemble, and the ‘Jubilate Deo’ for choir and organ of 1934 makes an exultant conclusion to the programme.
No texts of course, and, as I’ve already made clear, rather shoddy presentation with insufficient information about the recordings. Maybe that’s all you can expect for a typical price of £6.99; but it’s still disappointing, because it could so easily be improved.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
