"Singing for Britten"

[JimD]

I didn't catch it all, but enjoyed what I heard of this programme:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03j99mm

I'm not sure how good BB was at raising a laugh, but he did so during a rehearsal of (I think) the War Requiem, by asking the boys' choir not to sound as if they were enjoying it: 'it's modern music, you're not meant to enjoy it'. (This is definitely a paraphrase, not verbatim. For much modern music I fear he wouldn't have needed to tell them.) I was touched by his enthusiasm and care for the young amateur singers, and the tributes to the care and precision of his guidance: obviously cherished memories. It was also interesting to hear aural evidence supporting both those who found him 'stern', and those who didn't.

[Mary Chambers]

He told them not to make the music sound nice (they were English choir boys, after all) - "It isn't nice. It's horrid. It's modern music." Big laugh from assembled company.

I'd sung the War Requiem a couple of times before those rehearsal recordings were issued. I wish I'd heard his instructions about the 'Pleni sunt coeli'. Something to the effect that if you were singing the same as your neighbour, you were getting it wrong. I always found that bit rather tricky, but that makes it crystal clear.

[ostuni]

'chanting freely'