Two Views of Britten's 'Ceremony of Carols'

The St. John's Choir, led by George Guest, also includes Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb and Missa Brevis. Shaw fills out his disc - or rather leads it - with Poulenc's Mass in G.

Britten had a well-known antipathy for the cultured singing such as produced the more famous ensemble at Cambridge, the Choir of King's College Chapel. (That did not deter King's from recording the work, however.)

The critic Edward Greenfield characterized the singing of the Københavns Drengekor, which the composer conducted in a 1953 recording, as "tough." He was, however, impressed with the St. John's version: "[T]ime after time in my comparisons I have been delighted by the extra responsiveness of the St. John’s singing. The Danish boys may just outshine St. John’s in the jazzy rhythms of 'Deo Gracias' or in the Orff-like narration of the same carol, but the word-pointing and the contrasts of tone and dynamic are far better controlled throughout by the Cambridge boys and the crescendo at the end is over-whelming," he wrote in The Gramophone.

Britten may have been less pleased. The Decca Discography contains this parenthetical note: "Following publication, the composer requested a re-make of incorrect passages, which was done on 8 Aug 66 and that version was used for subsequent copies." I believe the transfer here is from the revised version. The original recording sessions were in December 1964.

My own view is that this record is a fine achievement, not just for the Ceremony of Carols, but for the Missa Brevis and Rejoice in the Lamb. The Welsh conductor George Guest (1924-2002) led the St. John's Choir from 1951-91, greatly enhancing its international reputation.

I believe this may have been the first recording for the harpist Marisa Robles. Greenfield presciently predicted a great career for her, which has been the case.

This performance benefits from atmospheric stereo from St. John's.

Robert Shaw must have liked A Ceremony of Carols. He recorded it twice for RCA Victor (in 1949 and 1964) and for Telarc (in 1997).

In 1949, Victor apparently did not have high hopes for the Britten work - the LP cover subordinates his composition to Poulenc's Mass in G.

Britten wrote A Ceremony of Carols for a boys' choir, but Shaw recorded it with six women's voices from his chorale. Not all critics were pleased. Irving Kolodin wrote in the Saturday Review, "1t is heartening to see the appreciation of a good work, such as Britten’s 'Ceremony of Carols,' implemented by the vast resources of publicity and distribution possessed by RCA Victor. It is less heartening to observe a treatment which accords with the great American penchant for expediency (that is to say, the use of an available women’s choir, rather than the more desirable boys’ voices)."

Seventy-five years later, it is possible to admire the artistry of these singers and their conductor, while also noting that the recording presents little of the atmosphere that can be found in the St. John's performance - the ceremonial aspect is missing.

The harp in this performance is played by the versatile Laura Newell, who has been heard here before in Debussy and as a member of the swing group The New Friends of Rhythm.

Poulenc's Mass in G was the subject of extravagant praise from the critics of the day. The American Record Guide was overwhelmed: "This Mass, stark, bare, unadorned as it may be, in the fifteen minutes duration is as filled with the distilled essence of devotion, of genuine religious feeling as any of the full-length scores of the classical or baroque periods. 1 know of no unaccompanied work in the modern idiom that can approach it; one would have to travel as back as Palestrina for serious competition." I mostly hear the stark, bare, unadorned aspect of the work, although it is earnest and well performed here.

Victor's sound is typical of the time - clear and not very atmospheric.

Note: I have uploaded quite a few of Shaw's recordings in the past. You can find them here - including his 1946 and 1952 Christmas albums.