Britten & Rutter Music for Choir – Voci Nobili

English carols by Britten and Rutter

Benjamin Britten is the foremost British composer of the previous century. With “Peter Grimes” he laid the foundation of a new trend in British opera and by virtue of a large body of work he created a new tradition of English song writing. In his work “A Ceremony of Carols” Britten demonstrates to the full his ability to create dramatic effects by simple means, in his bold and fresh settings for several English medieval texts with harp accompaniemt. Brittens “A Ceremony of Carols” has undoubtedly been a major influence on John Rutter´s “Dancing Day”. Also this work uses the English carols, with accompaniment by harp, as its starting point, but where Britten sought to create an original and contemporary musical setting for the old texts, Rutter first and foremost laid emphasis on authenticity and lifted the original melodies and harmonies directly into a new musical context. The result is in both cases strikingly beautiful – not least because of the female choir Voci Nibili´s and harpist Willy Postmas renditions of both works on this recording.