These three choral works show Britten in celebratory mood. His Spring Symphony, completed and first performed in 1949, is one of his happiest works and seems to symbolize the emergence of Europe from the darkness of war. It is one of the 'anthology' pieces in which he and other British composers have had outstanding success. His choice of poems is unerringly apt and for each he finds the appropriate musical mood. If some of the settings now seem slightly mannered, these are outnumbered by those in which Britten is at his most imaginative—the marvellous opening chorus, for example, describing the bleakness of winter, the setting of Milton's ''Morning Star'', and, finest of all, the sombre central section when Auden's ''Out on the lawn I lie in bed'' reminds us that war and tension are never far away.
On the whole, Richard Hickox captures the spirit of the work without quite attaining the insouciance of Britten's own recorded Decca performance or the virtuoso sparkle of Previn's EMI version. The London Symphony Chorus is in good voice, as are the various children's choirs, and the recording is bright and full. Of the soloists, Alfreda Hodgson is easily the best, bringing rich and refulgent tone to the Auden setting. Martyn Hill tends towards the sanctimonious and Elizabeth Gale is not always ideally steady. Previn's tenor and soprano are preferable.
Psalm 150, composed for the centenary in 1962 of Britten's Lowestoft preparatory school, is a jolly affair such as he could turn out, as it seems, effortlessly. Yet one knows the care he took over his works for children, as with the Welcome Ode, his final completed work (August 19th, 1976). It was composed in readiness for the Queen's Silver Jubilee visit to Ipswich in July 1977, by which date he had been dead for seven months. Its five movements last less than 10 minutes, but each bears the imprint of a great craftsman, inspired to the last. This is an exuberant performance, well recorded.'