Britten / Rutter: Dancing Day – Music For Christmas – Saint Thomas Choir Of Men And Boys

   in Choir & Organ (Nov, 2015)
This is the late John Scott’s final recording. How poignant, then, that the music on this CD is so full of life, just as Scott was himself before his cruel and unexpected death in August. The main works are Britten’s Ceremony of Carols and Rutter’s Dancing Day, the latter written in 1973 as a companion piece to the former, and scored for exactly the same forces. As one would expect from this stable, Scott directs hugely satisfying readings of both pieces, the boys relishing the challenges of Britten’s astonishing virtuosity and nearly always finding the right kind of ‘tough’, not too prissy tone that Britten so liked. Good solos too, …