Search - Benjamin Britten, Matthew Best, Thomas Trotter :: Britten Choral Music: Corydon Singers/ Westminster Cathedral Choir/ Best

The cantata Rejoice in the Lamb is one of Britten's--and the 20th century's--most original and affecting choral works. The text, by 18th-century poet Christopher Smart, is quirky and naïve but brilliantly imaginative; and Britten's music perfectly upholds and enhances the imagery, evokes the various moods, and complements the very colorful language. The choral variations A Boy Was Born is an early work that in its concept, structure, and development of ideas is a fully mature masterpiece. "The Wedding Anthem," written for the marriage of two friends in 1949, is one of Britten's least-performed and -recorded works--unjustly so, considering its universal theme and its first-rate music. These performances are among the best on disc, although some listeners may find the pace of Rejoice in the Lamb a bit too deliberate. --David Vernier