As with other recent records from St John's, there is a freshness, almost a feeling of adventure and a sense that all this choral discipline (plentifully in evidence) is an easy yoke. These are excellent performances, the opening item setting a standard which is to be maintained throughout. Buoyant rhythms, precise accentuations and well-pointed contrasts are features of the singing; and the playing of Ian Farrington in accompaniments that are often difficult and always demanding of maximum alertness, is outstanding. Outstanding, too, is the contribution of the trebles. In tone they preserve the traditional John's sound, without exaggerating its so-called continental element. But what impresses most is the sense of imaginative involvement. It is there, for instance, in the Kyrie of the Missa brevis, and most of all in the 'I cannot grow' section of A Hymn to St Cecilia. To this they bring a distinctive excitement, a wide-eyed, breathlessly playful feeling of childlike wonder. I don't think I have ever heard it so vividly realised as it is here.
The programme itself is highly attractive. The 'hymns' are, of course, fully developed compositions, and the canticles are notably independent of tradition (for instance, a quietly meditative note of praise is struck at the start of both Te Deums). The Missa brevis makes inventive use of its forces; and Rejoice in the Lamb, a masterly expression of the liberal spirit, never ceases to amaze with its evocation of the cat Jeoffry, valiant mouse and staff-struck poet. Also interesting is Britten's single published solo for organ, the Prelude and Fugue on a theme of Vittoria - more striking in the prelude, more fascinating in the fugue.
The recorded sound is not quite as vivid as the performances, but this remains a fully competitive and very likeable disc.
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