Britten: A Ceremony of Carols, Missa brevis & Other Choral Works

Featuring

Francis Shepherd
Jeremy Unwin
Marc Stevens
Robert Ogden
Sioned Williams
David Hill

Robert Holmsted
James O'Donnell
Gordon Jones
Westminster Cathedral Choir
Benjamin Britten

Did you know?

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Compositional Technique

The 'Interlude' for solo harp in A Ceremony of Carols is based on plainchant and uses bell-like harmonics and the pentatonic scale, reminiscent of the Balinese gamelan orchestra.

Composer Biography

Benjamin Britten, the composer, is considered a major figure in setting words to music and a worthy successor to Henry Purcell in setting the English language.

Composition History

Britten's first work for boys' voices, A Ceremony of Carols, was written during his perilous voyage home from America in 1942.

Composition History

The Missa Brevis in D was written in 1959 for the boys of Westminster Cathedral and their director, George Malcolm.

Compositional Technique

A Ceremony of Carols uses the plainsong antiphon 'Hodie' from Christmas Eve Vespers as a source for melodic cells in various sections.

Composition History

Britten's setting of Psalm 70, 'Deus in adjutorium meum…', was part of the incidental music for Ronald Duncan's 1945 play, This Way to the Tomb.

Compositional Technique

In the Missa Brevis, Britten treats Latin texts as 'phonetic material', similar to Igor Stravinsky, rather than setting them with the freedom he applied to English, French, and Italian.