CD 1:
1 Fancie
Boys' Choir

Greg Hallam
2 Festival Te Deum Op. 32
Training Choir South

Greg Beardsell
3 A Hymn of St Columba
Training Choir South

Greg Beardsell
4 Hymn to St Peter Op. 56a
Training Choir South

Greg Beardsell
5-7 Three Two-part Songs
Boys' Choir

Greg Hallam
8 A Hymn to the Virgin
Training Choir North

Dominic Peckham
9 Jubilate Deo in C
Training Choir South

Greg Beardsell
10 Hymn to St Cecilia Op. 27
Chamber Choir

Ben Parry
11 Te Deum in C
Training Choir North

Dominic Peckham
12 The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard
Cambiata Voices

Niall Crowley
13 Deus in adjutorium meum
Chamber Choir

Ben Parry
14 Antiphon
Training Choir North

Rachel Staunton
15 Jubilate Deo in E flat
Training Choir North

Rachel Staunton:
CD2
1-12 A Ceremony of Carols Op. 28
Girls' Choirs

Esther Jones
13 Rejoice in the Lamb Festival Cantata Op. 30
National Youth Choir

Robert Isaacs

In the thirty years since the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain were born, they have continued to blossom and flourish. New director Ben Parry was quick to notice they share their birthday in 2013 with Britten’s centenary, and the result is this celebratory double album. Over the course of a year the Delphian engineers have followed the various choirs on their courses, and for the first time all eight groups appear on disc – six hundred singers, eight conductors, in three different venues. The vast range of Britten’s choral output encompasses work to match the character of each of the different choirs, from the fresh-faced eagerness of the Training Choirs to the maturity and sophistication of the elite National Youth Chamber Choir. The rigorous training all these singers enjoy bears abundant fruit. Their vocal discipline, their energy, their sheer enthusiasm are vividly conveyed in this unique double birthday celebration. 'the fervent glow of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain ... sent the temperature soaring'' - The Times 'the massed choirs more than matched the world-class quartet of soloists' - Evening Standard