Choral Edition: Volume 3

 

With three of Britten's larger choral suites.

The only issue I really have here, is that I don't particularly care for any of these multi-movement choral works.

Britten's harmonies are tougher, and while I am always willing to keep giving them a try and the effort is always worth the listen, who wants to approach a recording in this way.

On the other hand, Britten's Advance Democracy is a riot; a real find amongst his more obscure catalog of choral music.

Still, Paul Spicer's last volume is sung very well by the Finzi Singers, and the whole 3-volume set is a treasure.

A review from 2021

Volume 3 of Benjamin Britten’s choral edition features completely a cappella music, and aside from one work, is mostly secular. The music in this volume, Five Flower Songs, Advance Democracy, Sacred and Profane, and A Boy is Born, all have moments of strangeness about them, as well as Britten’s peculiar style of musical language that takes a little warming to, but there is a lot of interest as well.

The 30-minute choral theme and variations A Boy is Born is the major work here. I don’t really hear the theme and variations aspect, but a secular musical form paired with a sacred subject matter is most interesting. The mixture of the adult Finzi Singers set against the boy choristers of Lichfield Cathedral give a completely different sound world than much of the rest of Britten’s large-scale a cappella work, and is well worth hearing. Still, spending time with this music will ultimately reward the listener, the singing is beautiful, and the Noel finale is a rip-roarer.

The other three secular works offer a nice variety. The single Advance Democracy, with its goose-stepping men’s chorus and siren wails from the women create a unique, unsettling atmosphere. Five Flower Songs has a folksy quality to it and Sacred and Profane’s old English texts really set themselves apart. The finale of Profane is a bit gruesome, nigh-upon disturbing, but I like Britten’s strong choice of literature and word choices that he sets to his striking compositional style.

I have liked The Finzi Singers across the three volumes of Britten’s choral music. Their sound isn’t pressed straight like a cathedral chorus, but instead, are free with their vibrato, although they have been judicious applying it thus far. In Volume 3, with the secular music and a different recording location, their vibrato seems heavier. Nothing bad, but noticeable, yet they also also throw themselves into the music, making all of Britten’s music leap to the listener with impact and beauty in equal measure.

Paul Spicer, a Britten scholar in his own right, leads all of this music confidently. Chandos’ sound is very good; the Finzi Singers are not caught super close, allowing the ensemble to be heard over individual voices and sections, and that is where I think they appeal to me over the set by The Sixteen on Coro.

Regardless, this whole series by Paul Spicer and The Finzi Singers is high quality, however their complete set on Chandos is really the way to go. I am not completely enthralled with the selections on this particular volume, although it is always quite interesting, and at times surprising. Christ’s Nativity was not included in this set, but Polyphony recorded it on Hyperion alongside A Boy is Born, and it provides another taste of a cappella Britten.

 

 

 

 

Works
Five Flower Songs, op. 47 (11.18)
Advance Democracy (2.54)
Sacred and Profane, op. 91 (15.49)
A Boy was Born, op. 3 (31.15)

Performers
Lichfield Cathedral Choristers
Finzi Singers
Paul Spicer, conductor

Label: Chandos
Year: 1999
Total Timing: 61.36

 

 

 

 

This last volume is also less appealing to this listener, at least program wise.

Otherwise, I am happy to have made my way through Britten's a cappella and organ-accompanied choral music.

Plus Chandos, Spicer, and the Finzi Singers are excellent.