It was appropriate that the BBCS should sing this wonderful set of choral variations by Britten as it was originaqlly written for their predecessors,The Wireless Singers. The choristers of The Temple Church sang their part with a gusto that BB would probably have liked.
It is a tricky piece to perform, and of course the BBCS had the measure of the dots. I felt they did the more gentle bits quite sensitively; but their ff just goes off the end of the decibel (not to mention the wobble) scale.
Two comments:
1.The announcer made much of 'late medieval' pronunciation. I didn't notice it especially. Wasn't 'Jesu' supposed to have been 'Gee-su' ?
2. David Hill mentioned that 19-year-old Britten may have been influenced by hearing Walton's Belshazzar's Feast. I personally do not hear any of Walton's rhythmic or harmonic fingerprints in A Boy was Born.
It is a tricky piece to perform, and of course the BBCS had the measure of the dots. I felt they did the more gentle bits quite sensitively; but their ff just goes off the end of the decibel (not to mention the wobble) scale.
Two comments:
1.The announcer made much of 'late medieval' pronunciation. I didn't notice it especially. Wasn't 'Jesu' supposed to have been 'Gee-su' ?
2. David Hill mentioned that 19-year-old Britten may have been influenced by hearing Walton's Belshazzar's Feast. I personally do not hear any of Walton's rhythmic or harmonic fingerprints in A Boy was Born.