Britten’s Canticles and Purcell songs

Last Friday I sang a short evening concert in Vicars’ Hall in Windsor Castle, where I live and work. The concert was with baritone Richard Bannan and tenor Nicholas Madden, and we were accompanied by Luke Bond on the piano.

The evening featured three of Benjamin Britten’s five Canticles interspersed with Henry Purcell songs, with piano realisations by Britten. I began the concert with Purcell’s Morning Hymn and concluded it with Evening Hymn, two prayerful pleas to God. Both are deeply personal songs, with Purcell setting text by William Fuller. He actually altered the text of Morning Hymn slightly to reflect his own pessimistic nature.

Britten’s Abraham and Isaac and The Journey of the Magi are two personal favourites of mine, each one a gripping and exhilarating setting of a famous Biblical story. Both are filled with angst and difficulty, though Abraham and Isaac finishes with a glorious hymn of praise whereas The Journey of the Magi ends shrouded in mystery and doubt.

Richard also performed Purcell’s Lord, what is man? and Job’s Curse, and Nick sang Britten’s My beloved is mine. It was a wonderful evening of music making in an historic and intimate venue.