Benjamin Britten emerges from a long tradition of English choral music that dates back all the way to the Middle Ages. He is in good company with such composers as Byrd, Tallis, Handel, Elgar and Vaughan-Williams.
And yet, he brings to this long history his own sense of individualism and experimentation, putting him among the ranks of the greatest composers of the tradition.
Benjamin Britten emerges from a long tradition of English choral music that dates back all the way to the Middle Ages. He is in good company with such composers as Byrd, Tallis, Handel, Elgar and Vaughan-Williams.
And yet, he brings to this long history his own sense of individualism and experimentation, putting him among the ranks of the greatest composers of the tradition.
As Richard Cock, musical director of the Chanticleer Singers in South Africa, explains, Britten had a great fascination for words – their meanings and their sounds – and was always searching for surprising and startling ways to set them to music.
This emphasis came through in a programme by the Chanticleer Singers at last Saturday's tribute to Britten on this Centenary of his birth. The programme offered a survey of Britten’s choral works from when he was 16 to his middle years, and finally to the last years of his life, in 1975. Unfortunately, he left us relatively young only in his 60s in 1976.
I have seen the Chanticleer Singers do three performances at three different National Arts Festivals, and have been impressed by their choice of challenging programmes. Richard Cock’s introductions offer insight into the humanity of the works and their composers. They are compelling and often draw one’s attention to the drama of one’s own journey of life, death and rebirth.
The difficulty of the programme came through in this performance, in which the choir seemed somewhat uncertain of itself in places. And particularly in light of Britten’s reverence for texts, I would have liked to have heard clearer diction. It was helpful to have the text printed in the programme.
However, the performance was exciting. These works demand all of our attention, and the choir’s performance certainly kept me gripped to the music, the words and the interplay between the two.
At the same time, the performance offered the respect for the beauty and innovation of Britten’s music that it deserves.
