- Artists:
- RIAS Kammerchor,
- Justin Doyle,
- Philip Mayers,
- Anna Viechtl,
- Knabenstimmen des Staats- und Domchores, Berlin,
- Marcel Andreas Ober
Winter Tales - The Britten Christmas Album
1CD
€19,99
Incl. taxes (plus applicable )
Release date: October 16, 2026
With the album Winter Tales, the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin and Justin Doyle celebrate Christmas with a programme centred on Benjamin Britten’s choral masterpieces. At its heart is A Ceremony of Carols, complemented by the early masterpiece A Boy Was Born, the sonically captivating Missa brevis, and the rarely performed A Hymn of St Columba and The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard. Together, they place Britten’s best-known masterpieces alongside rarely performed works, allowing listeners to experience his choral music in an unexpected context. Released to mark the 50th anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s death, the album pays tribute to one of the defining composers of twentieth-century British music.
Former Westminster Cathedral chorister Justin Doyle has been immersed in Britten’s music since childhood and is now recognised as one of its foremost interpreters. For this recording, he worked from scores containing Britten’s own handwritten markings, and gains valuable insights into Britten’s performance practice and sound world.
The RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, one of the world’s leading professional chamber choirs, is joined by the boys of the Staats- und Domchor Berlin, Anna Viechtl (harp), Marcel Andreas Ober (organ) and Philip Mayers (piano). The result is a recording that brings together Britten’s best-loved Christmas music with some of the most rewarding discoveries in his catalogue.
Tracklisting:
Britten: A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28:
- I. Procession
- II. Wolcom Yole!
- III. There Is No Rose
- IV. That Yongë Child
- V. Balulalow
- VI. As Dew in Aprille
- VII. This Little Babe
- VIII. Interlude
- IX. In Freezing Winter Night
- X. Spring Carol
- XI. Deo gracias
- XII. Recession
Britten: A Boy Was Born, Op. 3: Var.
13. Theme. A Boy Was Born
14. 1. Lullay, Jesu
15. 2. Herod
16. 3. Jesu as Thou Art Our Saviour
17. 4. The Three Kings
18. 5. In the Bleak Midwinter / Lully, Lulley
19. 6. Finale. Noel!
Britten: Missa brevis, Op. 63:
20. I. Kyrie
21. II. Gloria
22. IIIa. Sanctus
23. IIIb. Benedictus
24. IV. Agnus Dei
Britten:
25. A Hymn of St Columba
26. The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard
