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- Run Time: 65.50
- Release Date: 2003
- Label: Warner Classics
- ASIN: B013SVQZI8
Britten: Choral Music
DELISTED
- Procession 1:26
- Wolcum Yole 1:24
- There is no rose 2:32
- That youngë child 1:51
- Balulalow 1:19
- As dew in Aprille 0:59
- This little Babe 1:26
- Andante Pastorale 3:45
- In freezing Winter night 3:54
- Spring carol 1:13
- Adam lay i-bounden 1:12
- Recession 1:31
- In a garden shady 2:30
- I cannot grow 2:04
- O ear whose creatures cannot wish to fall 3:00
- O cry created as the bow of sin 2:48
- Sacred and Profane Op. 91 13.62
- Rejoice In God O Ye Tongues 1:31
- Let Nimrod, the mighty hunter 2:39
- For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffrey 2:05
- For The Mouse Is A Creature Of Personal Valour 1:05
- For the Mouse 2:12
- For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry 2:27
- For H is the spirit 2:51
- For at that time malignity ceases 2:44
Reviews
- Britten: Choral Music – BBC Music Magazine - These are sprightly and well-directed performances.
The Vasari Singers run a swift and sure course through this whistlestop tour of Britten’s vast choral output. The Ceremony of Carols, although written for treble voices, enjoys pureness of tone and rhythmic incisiveness from the ladies of the chorus, although here, as in the rest of the CD, it is difficult to hear the words. Margaret Crossland handles the solo ‘That yongë child’ with commendable sensitivity. For the ladies, the recording quality falls just short of being excellent. It lacks breadth and transparency, a fault that is put right when the rest of the choir joins in for the Hymn to St Cecilia and Sacred and Profane.
These are sprightly and well-directed performances, but by the time we get to the last item on the disc, the a cappella voices are starting to sound a bit too delicate and whimsical. So the comparatively robust nature of Rejoice in the Lamb introduces a welcome note of extravagance. Here there is a substantial part for organ and the recording engineers can be justly proud of a fine balance. The packaging is rather stingy. It seems a false economy not to include the texts; nor are we told anything about the Vasari Singers. The timings of the bands have got hopelessly muddled, and the organist is not credited.
Christopher Lambton
BBC Music Magazine - Britten: Choral Music – Gramophone - Jeremy Backhouse’s firm, clear direction pays handsome dividends.
Jeremy Backhouse’s firm, clear direction pays handsome dividends and the flawless ensemble and perfect tonal blend he achieves from his singers results in a fine account of Rejoice in the Lamb. Particularly impressive is the extraordinarily compelling effect achieved through some outstanding dynamic control. This new release distinguishes itself with a first-rate performance of the little-heard late (1974) work Sacred and Profane.
Marc Rochester
Gamophone