Britten - Rejoice in the Lamb - 4/5 Stars

Britten - Rejoice in the Lamb - 4/5 Stars Every piece of Britten's that I've experience have all had a strange uniqueness to them. Many composer can be confused with other composers: Haydn for Mozart, Brahms for Beethoven, Vivaldi for Bach, and so on. But not Britten. Like Chopin, there is something inherent about his writing that just makes it sound like Britten. The same way one can recognize a Chopin Nocturne from just a few bars, Britten just sounds like Britten. I suppose some composer's voices are just completely unique in the same way some people's speaking voices just are one of a kind, like James Earl Jones, or Gilbert Gottfried.

In this particular piece, Britten chooses some rather cumbersome texts to set and sets them in a way that make the delivery odd enough to both work and be memorable. However, the unusual texts can also be a bit distracting. Actually being able to identify texts as they are sung is an inherent problem in music. Often times the texts will just pass and the listener will just ignore the fact that they can't understand the words because the music is moving enough. However, when Britten uses fast sixteenth note passages and gives one syllable to each note, the listener is so intrigued by the driving rhythm that the lack of understanding of text can be frustrating. "What did they just say!" anxieties can be passed present and thus detracting from the piece.

The piece, a cantata of sorts, broken into 8 short movements, has no real sense of progression. No big start, and then just staying in a comfortable middle feel until the end. The movements lack variety in mood and tempo.

Most enjoyable are great discrepancies between what the choir/soloist is doing and what is happening in the organ. Often they each seem to be doing their own thing and they are coincidentally happening at the same time. Neither particularly support one another but at the same time work great together.

I do, however, strongly recommend this piece simply because most people are not familiar with Benjamin Britten, and he truly was a unique composer with a totally original voice--none like him before, and none since.