TV “A Ceremony of Carols” (Britten): Christ Church Oxford 1982 (Francis Grier)

This 1982 Central TV production was filmed as a follow-up to an LP of the same name issued on the ASV label in 1982. The soloists on the LP are the same as here: Andrew Olleson (“That yongë child” and “Spring Carol”), Edward Harris (“Balulalow”, “In freezing winter night” and “Spring Carol”) and Mark Slater (“In freezing winter night”).

“A Ceremony of Carols”, Britten’s Op. 28, was written in 1942 while Britten was travelling by sea from the United States to England. It consists of eleven movements whose Middle English texts are taken from “The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems”, edited by Gerald Bullett. The processional and recessional chant is based on the Gregorian antiphon “Hodie Christus natus est”.

Both video and sound have been restored by ourselves.

Видео TV “A Ceremony of Carols” (Britten): Christ Church Oxford 1982 (Francis Grier) канала Archive of Recorded Church Music