Griffin presents a remastered edition of Choir of Clare College, Cambridge’s 1995 recording pairing celebrated British and American choral works: Rutter’s Gloria, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Tippett’s Five Negro Spirituals (from A Child of Our Time), and Britten’s Festival Te Deum and Rejoice in the Lamb.
The Rutter and Bernstein were recorded in the Chapel of St John’s College, Cambridge, while the two Britten works were recorded at St Matthew’s, Northampton—the church that originally commissioned Rejoice in the Lamb for its fiftieth anniversary in 1943.
In the post-war decades, Britten and Tippett stood as the twin pillars of a revived English choral tradition, each exploring ideas of the outsider and of sacrifice. Tippett’s Five Negro Spirituals began life as commentary within the oratorio A Child of Our Time, drawing a parallel between the Holocaust and the songs of another oppressed people.
Rutter’s Gloria, commissioned by the Voices of Mel Olson and first premiered in 1974, is scored for choir, brass, timpani, percussion, and organ. Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, written for Chichester Cathedral’s 1965 festival and set to Hebrew texts, moves from percussive energy through anguished tension to a serene, prayerful close.
