RIAS Kammerchor performs Benjamin Britten Christmas album

The album ‘Winter Tales – The Britten Christmas Album’ features works by Benjamin Britten performed by the RIAS Kammerchor and the Staats- und Domchor Berlin, under the direction of Justin Doyle. The collection spans various stages of Britten’s career, including ‘A Ceremony of Carols’, which blends Gregorian chant with medieval lyricism, and ‘A Boy Was Born’, a work written when the composer was 19.

Other notable pieces include the ‘Missa brevis op. 63’, which introduces a liturgical tone, and ‘The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard’, a piece originally intended for a performance in the Eichstätt prisoner-of-war camp. The performances are characterized by precise vocal leadership, transparent textures, and nuanced dynamics, supported by instrumentalists Anna Viechtl on harp, Marcel Andreas Ober on organ, and Philip Mayers on piano.