Britten: A Ceremony of Carols [IMPORT]

Gordon Jones (Performer), Benjamin Britten (Composer), Robert Jones [countertenor] (Performer), Sioned Williams (Performer), James O'Donnell (Performer), Simon Davies (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Gordon Jones, Robert Jones [countertenor], Sioned Williams, James O'Donnell, Simon Davies
• Composer: Benjamin Britten
• Audio CD (November 12, 1993)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Hyperion UK
• ASIN: B000002ZJC
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #113,500 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
Of the many accounts of Britten's Ceremony of Carols in the catalog, this one is the best. This was the first work Britten wrote for boys' voices, and with his keen ear and extraordinary imagination, he achieved many wondrous and memorable effects. At the heart of this 1986 performance are the boys of the Westminster Cathedral Choir, obviously a well-trained group. With their outstanding intonation and hearty sound, these London boys outclass all the competition. Their singing is free and expressive, yet very disciplined, even in the triple canon of "This Little Babe," which has a way of bringing all but the most skillful groups to grief. The playing of harpist Sioned Williams is especially accomplished--she delivers a superb realization of the solo interlude based on "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"--and David Hill's direction is right on the mark. The recording, made in Westminster Cathedral, is spacious and extremely appealing, right down to the comings-and-goings of the procession and recession, both of which work beautifully. A fine sampling of Britten's other choral music, including the beautiful Missa Brevis in D, rounds out the disc. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best version of this piece!, September 23, 2000

By	Amy Parsons (Mesa, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This is the best version of the Ceremony of Carols available. It is sung completely by trebles and is accompanied only by harp, which is how it was written. Trebles = boys. I thought it was out of print and I am very happy to see that it is not. The only problem with this version is that it is very quiet, and needs to be turned up to double the usual volume, but it isn't a major problem. In case you're not familiar with this piece, it is a very beautiful set of carols written in old English (even though it was written in the 20th century). The songs are very complex, especially my favorite "This Little Babe" which has 3 sections of the choir singing the same lyrics a beat apart... very difficult, and very exciting. There is also the beautifully dissident "That Yonge Child", and practically everyone's favorite "Balulalow". The harp interlude is also very popular. I highly recommend this CD.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Vienna Boys' Choir; essential for any Christmas or classical collection, January 2, 2006

By	R. J. Tuggy (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have to agree with other reviewers that this is the best version of "A Ceremony of Carols" available. The piercing purity of the treble solo voice on "Balulalow" brings tears to my eyes nearly every time I listen to it, and the quality of the rest of the album matches that performance.

These are exceedingly well-trained children; I often get a little concerned when a choir approaches "This Little Babe," but this choir tosses off the difficult challenge with an ease that lets me forget the notes and instead be shaken by the poetry of young boys singing a fierce war-cry about the hero Christ-child who, in his naked, infinitely vulnerable infancy, is humanity's shield against all hell.

This is not "pretty" music - yes, it's just boys and a harp - but it's powerful, lulling, agressive, disarming. I can't stop talking about this recording to my friends and family.

5.0 out of 5 stars Boy trebles show brilliant style, unusual timbre, May 16, 2009

By	Lindsay G. Eaglesham "L. George Eaglesham" (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There is a kind of effortlessness to the singing of the English cathedral choirboy (at the highest levels of selection and training) which tends to produce a wistful, often plaintive sound. It is a timbre that is artless in the finest sense, and most perfect for the Anglo-Catholic liturgical repertoire. I think that even in today's climate of social uniformity one cannot sensibly deny that there is a natural difference between the tendencies of emotional expression between boys and girls. So the boy treble in the finest Anglican cathedral tradition is generally trained to demonstrate that kind of natural emotional detachment in his singing which, for me, profoundly expresses the ineffable nature of traditional cathedral music (if the expression of the ineffable is not a contradiction in terms).
Having said that, some English boy choirs have cultivated a subtly different style of expression, and the Choir of Westminster Cathedral is one of the foremost models for this. Some musicologists believe it began with George Malcolm, the Cathedral's music director in the 1950s and 60s (it was for Malcolm and the choir that Britten composed the album's Missa Brevis in D, in 1959). Malcolm taught the boys to sing in a style that is sometimes referred to as the 'Continental' sound. It involves a more physical effort on the part of the young trebles, a full-throated singing; this in contrast to the lighter 'head' voice, traditionally cultivated in Anglican cathedral trebles. David Hill, the music director on this album, is another exponent of the larger continental sound. In recent years, he also directed the famed men and boys' choir of St. John's College Chapel, Cambridge, where this sound continues as a great legacy from the days of the brilliant choirmaster George Guest, who led St. John's around the same time that George Malcolm was with Westminster Cathedral. Incidentally, this Westminster is not to be confused with the more famous Westminster Abbey, the Anglican seat of English kings and queens. Westminster Cathedral is the English Roman Catholic mother church. For lovers of Anglican cathedral singing, that fact is a pleasant curiosity, as it is generally agreed that the Catholic cathedrals have not produced the quality of choral singing (especially with boys) as the Anglican tradition.
But with the Choir of Westminster Cathedral we have the one great exception, at least of which I am aware. Here we have treble singing (and treble and men singing) that is as superlative as any of the English cathedral choirs and the great Cambridge and Oxford collegiate choirs. Hearing the precise sonorities produced by the boys (listen especially to 'Wolcum Yole' and to the 'Sanctus' in the Missa Brevis) I am reminded of the tonal qualities of the finest St. John's boys over the years, and of the wonderful ensemble sound and crystal clear projection of the boys of the Temple Church Choir under the fabled choirmaster George Thalben-Ball.
All the work of the masterful Benjamin Britten is to be cherished, as is this album.