This generously filled
release offers Britten’s major works
for treble voices, of which the marvellous
and deservedly popular A Ceremony
of Carols Op.28 is one of his
finest scores. It is well known and
does not call for any further comments.
I found the present performance immensely
enjoyable and superbly sung.
The Missa Brevis
Op.63 is as successful as A
Ceremony of Carols. It is Britten
at his best and his most inspired again:
highly memorable tunes, catchy and clear
rhythms. (You just have to listen to
the crisp, syncopated rhythms in the
Gloria …) No wonder that this
work has also become popular, although
it too is not easy to sing; but its
challenges are ultimately quite rewarding.
The boys here have obviously been fired
by the music, and their reading is one
of the many fine things on this disc.
The Golden Vanity
Op.78 and Children’s Crusade
Op.82 never really garnered
the same popularity as either Missa
Brevis or A Ceremony of
Carols, although both were recorded
under Britten’s supervision many years
ago. (That recording of Children’s
Crusade has been re-issued in
the double CD set Britten: The Rarities
on Decca 468 811-2 that I reviewed here
some time ago.)
Although its subtitle
Vaudeville for boys’ voices and piano
might imply a somewhat lightish or lighter
humorous work, The Golden Vanity
presents "a tragic, typically Britten-esque
hero; the lonely suffering boy, abandoned
by all those around him" (Sophie
Biddell in her excellent insert notes).
Indeed, the music, and more particularly
some unexpected harmonic clashes, rather
belie the good nature of the work’s
folksy sources. No matter how hard he
tried, Britten could not but follow
his own musical instinct, and express
his innermost concerns. After all, despite
its somewhat misleading subtitle, The
Golden Vanity is a deeply serious
work; but it may lack the direct appeal
of A Ceremony of Carols
or of The Little Sweep
(the latter also dealing with the same
idea, that of the lonely suffering boy,
although the story has its happy end).
Children’s Crusade,
setting one of Brecht’s most poignant
poems (in a superb English translation
by Hans Keller), does not achieve its
aim easily either. Again, this is an
utterly serious piece of music, cleverly
designed so as to involve as many children
as possible in conveying the rather
desperate, bleak message of Brecht’s
poem. I have never been able to respond
wholeheartedly to what I firmly believe
is a courageous, deeply sincere work.
The fault may probably lie in the music
which – considering its imaginative
scoring – could have been made more
gripping and arresting, rather than
merely noisy. The percussion actually
seems to rattle and bang along somewhat
aimlessly without ever really achieving
its full impact. These personal considerations,
however, have nothing to do with this
very fine and committed performance
into which all concerned put all their
heart.
All in all this is
an outstanding release that deserves
that warmest recommendation.
Hubert Culot
Benjamin
Britten
Choristers of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxfordabcd;
Worcester College Chapel Choristersad;
Victoria Davis (harp)b; Clive Driskill-Smith
(pianoad and organc); Christian
Wilson (piano)d; John Madden (percussiona
and chamber organd); Oxfordshire Youth
Percussion Ensembled; Stephen Darlington
