Composer: Benjamin Britten
Performer: Polyphony
Conductor: Stephen Layton
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDH55438
Release: 2001
Size: 197 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Five Flower Songs, Op. 47
01. I. To daffodils
02. II. The succession of the four sweet months
03. III. Marsh flowers
04. IV. The evening primrose
05. V. Ballad of green Broom
A.M.D.G.
06. I. Prayer I
07. II. Rosa mystica
08. III. God’s grandeur
09. IV. Prayer II
10. V. O Deus, ego amo te
11. VI. The soldier
12. VII. Heaven-Haven
13. A Hymn to the Virgin
Choral dances from Gloriana, 1954 version
14. I. Time
15. II. Concord
16. III. Time and Concord
17. IV. Country girls
18. V. Rustics and fishermen
19. VI. Final dance of homage
20. Chorale after an Old French Carol
Sacred and Profane, Op. 91
21. I. St Godric’s Hymn
22. II. I mon waxe wod
23. III. Lenten is come
24. IV. The long night
25. V. Yif ic of luve can
26. VI. Carol
27. VII. Ye that pasen by
28. VIII. A death
2013 sees the centenary of Britten’s birth and a wide-ranging programme of concerts, operas and events, including performances of his choral music. This recording is the perfect introduction to this repertoire.
Included on this Gramophone Award-winning recording is the last choral work for professionals which Britten was to complete—Sacred and Profane—a collection of eight medieval lyrics for voices in five parts (SSATB). Also included is the Chorale after an old French Carol whose text is by W H Auden (a close friend of Britten’s). The Chorale’s text was part of an unachieved Christmas Oratorio on which Britten and Auden intended to collaborate.
The seven settings of poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins entitled A.M.D.G. were never performed in the composer’s lifetime and indeed had to wait until 1984 for their first performance.