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Building a Library
Jeremy Summerly chooses his favourite version of Britten's Ceremony of Carols
Britten composed A Ceremony of Carols in 1942, while crossing the Atlantic on the Axel Johnson, a Swedish cargo ship. The Second World War was raging and the composer and his partner Peter Pears were returning to Britain after a period in the US. So this perennial Christmas favourite was composed under imminent threat of attack by German U-Boats. It was originally scored for three-part treble chorus, solo voices, and harp. Its text is taken from a mixture of anonymous medieval songs and later poems rather than familiar carols. Not all of the texts are about the birth of Jesus or even about winter – in fact one of them is called the Spring Carol. The series of joyful but sometimes dark songs is unified by the framing device of a processional and recessional chant. It contains favourites such as "Wolcum Yole", "There is no rose of such vertu" and "This Little Babe". Much of it is written as simple, melodic rounds. It is one of the many works Britten skilfully crafted and tailored to the vocal abilities of young children.
Presto listing here (but it will also include SATB versions, I imagine).
There is a BBC MM release: Volume 28, Number 3.
The Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford, director Owens Rees, with Lucy Wakeford (harp), recorded out of season in July 2019.
Still in its shrink-wrap here, so I can't say if it's just upper voices or the SATB version; maybe someone knows (or I could open it and find out for myself!).
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