Britten's 'Missa Brevis in D'

Britten's setting of the Mass, in D, sung by the King's College, Cambridge Choir, conducted by Sir Phillip Wilcocks.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• classical
• music
• benjamin
• britten
• mass
• major
• missa
• brevis
• choral
• king's
• college
• cambridge
• choir
• phillip
• wilcocks

[cavallodelmare]

in sanctus do they use every note in the chromatic scale? if so, what is that sort of music called?

[OMRLPdedicate]

It depends: if it is based upon chords, with extra notes then that is called chromatic harmony; if not then it is atonality.

[cutie3pop3po]

Agnus Dei is my favorite to sing its a beautiful piece

[a1141484]

Very difficult piece of music, very nicely performed.

[sofikkisun]

we sung this song at choir. so magic!!

[musicpiano14]

so magic music

[mcsw99]

@nucleojohny It may be worth bearing in mind, however, that for centuries choirs have pronounced Latin after the manner of their own language. English tends towards harder-sounding consonants than Italian or French. Furthermore, it was often the case with English Church Choirs in the mid-20th century that their pronunciation reflected the accent of their director - in this case, David Willcocks with his Received Pronunciation! A European Choir would sing this quite differently.

[grantygrantola]

Lovely to find this - I was in a very good choir back in the Sixties and we performed this in Rochester Cathedral. We had a top class music teacher, Miss Narcisse-Mair. I have a lot to thank her for.

[Trenktuvas]

@cavallodelmare it's called dodecaphony.

[olimcantaba]

Just the sort of piece that King's perform so well. I sang it c. 1965-6 in Birmingham Town Hall,with the Warwickshire Schools' Choirs,and found it enjoyable despite the difficulty.

[Floundah]

We sang this when I was a freshman in college and I had a lot of fun with the alto solos. Britten writes so beautifully for the voice.

[villageorganist]

Regarding the pronunciation of Latin: in church music both German (eksselsees) og Italian (ekschelsees) pronunciations are acceptable. Neither of these are English. They are two internationally accepted ways of pronouncing a language of which we have no extant recordings!