The Wykeham Consort: Britten & Parry
Where? New College Chapel
When? Saturday 1st November, 7:30pm
Tickets? £6 Concessions / £14 General Admission, available here:
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/wykeham-consort/britten-rejoice-in-the-lamb-parry-songs-of-farewell/e-agqbbm
The Wykeham Consort, directed by Patrick Maxwell, performs three landmark works of twentieth-century choral music. The programme opens with Benjamin Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb - a brilliant and joyful setting of Christopher Smarts’ portrayal of his unorthodox Christianity; its characterful solo movements combined with some stirring and beautiful choral writing in one of Britten's best-loved works. The fiendish organ part is played by Marcus McDevitt, Senior Organ Scholar of New College.
At the heart of the programme lies Hubert Parry's Songs of Farewell, written with the Chapel New College in mind. These six works of secular and religious poetry take the genre of the English part-song to startling levels of emotional intensity. Finished in anticipation of the composer's own end in 1918, and the passing of the Parry's Anglo-German intellectual world, they remain a powerful testament to a departing age.
The concert finishes in a more uplifting mood: Britten's Te Deum in C is an exuberant setting of the ancient setting of words used for the service of Matins. Composed in 1934, it exhibits the joyful originality of the composer's early years as he forged a new way for twentieth-century British music.
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