Tippett: Child Of Our Time / Robinson, Walker, Et Al

$19.99
Label
Naxos
Release Date
February 22, 2005
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      TIPPETT
    • ORCHESTRA / ENSEMBLE
      City Of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
    • PERFORMER
      Jo, John, Garrison, Cheek
    Product Details ⌄
    Works ⌄

    1. Part 1: The world turns on its dark side (Chorus)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    2. Part 1: The Argument - Man has measured the heavens with a telescope (Alto)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Sarah Walker

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    3. Part 1: Interludium - Scena - Is evil then good? (Chorus and Alto)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Sarah Walker

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    4. Part 1: The Narrator - Now in each nation there were some cast out (Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: John Cheek

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    5. Part 1: Chorus of the Oppressed - When shall the usurers' city cease

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    6. Part 1: I have no money for my bread (Tenor)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Jon Garrison

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    7. Part 1: How can I cherish my man in such days (Soprano)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Faye Robinson

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    8. Part 1: A Spiritual - Steal away (Chorus and Soli)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Faye Robinson, Sarah Walker, Jon Garrison, John Cheek

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    9. Part 2: A star rises in mid-winter (Chorus)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    10. Part 2: The Narrator - And a time came (Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: John Cheek

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    11. Part 2: Chorus of Persecutors and Persecuted - Away with them! (Double Chorus)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    12. Part 2: The Narrator - Where they could, they fled from the terror (Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: John Cheek

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    13. Part 2: Chorus of the Self-righteous - We cannot have them in our Empire

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    14. Part 2: The Narrator - And the boy's mother wrote a letter (Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: John Cheek

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    15. Part 2: Scena - O my son! (Soloists)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Faye Robinson, Sarah Walker, Jon Garrison, John Cheek

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    16. Part 2: A Spiritual - Nobody knows the trouble I see, Lord (Chorus and Soli)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Faye Robinson, Sarah Walker, Jon Garrison, John Cheek

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    17. Part 2: Scena - The boy becomes desperate in his agony (Bass, Alto)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Sarah Walker, John Cheek

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    18. Part 2: The Narrator - They took a terrible vengeance (Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: John Cheek

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    19. Part 2: The Terror - Burn down their houses! (Chorus)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    20. Part 2: The Narrator - Men were ashamed of what was done (Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: John Cheek

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    21. Part 2: A Spiritual of Anger - Go down, Moses (Chorus and Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: John Cheek

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    22. Part 2: The boy sings in his prison - My dreams are all shattered in a ghastly reality (Tenor)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Jon Garrison

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    23. Part 2: The Mother - What have I done to you, my son? (Soprano)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Faye Robinson

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    24. Part 2: The dark forces rise like a flood (Alto)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Sarah Walker

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    25. Part 2: A Spiritual - O, by and by (Chorus and Soprano)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Faye Robinson

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    26. Part 3: The cold deepens (Chorus)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    27. Part 3: The soul of man is impassioned like a woman (Alto)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Sarah Walker

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    28. Part 3: Scena - The words of wisdom are these (Bass, Chorus)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: John Cheek

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    29. Part 3: Preludium - I would know my shadow and my light (Chorus and Soli)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Faye Robinson, Sarah Walker, Jon Garrison, John Cheek

      Conductor: Michael Tippett

    30. Part 3: A Spiritual - Deep river, my home is over Jordan (Chorus and Soli)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Faye Robinson, Sarah Walker, Jon Garrison, John Cheek

      Conductor: Michael Tippett


There have been only a handful of recordings of Michael Tippett's oratorio A Child of Our Time--André Previn and the RPO, Colin Davis and the BBC Symphony (with Jessye Norman and Janet Baker), both of which are out of print; Richard Hickox and the City of Birmingham Chorus & Symphony (Chandos), and this one, originally issued on Collins Classics in 1992. Of course, this performance has the benefit of the composer as conductor--and like Britten, Tippett was a fine podium interpreter of his own music, here supported by excellent orchestral and choral forces and some pretty decent vocal soloists.


The oratorio, written at the dawn of World War II, is (in Tippett's words) "a Passion, not of god-man, but of man whose god has left the light of the heavens for the dark of the collective unconscious." Its text, written by the composer, begins: "The world turns on its dark side. It is winter." And from there we are confronted with questions, emotions, and often perplexing aspects of our humanity, specifically the nature of good and evil and the individual's responsibility, expressed in words near the work's end: "I would know my shadow and my light, so shall I at last be whole." Amid the rousing, powerful choruses, poignant solo sections, and vibrant orchestral scoring, Tippett injects several Spirituals, which serve as commentary and help expand the work's reach and message, from "a Europe...stretching out through its torments toward Russia in the East, and even America in the West." It's a brilliant creation (its three-part structure loosely modeled after Handel's Messiah) whose sentiments and questions certainly haven't lost their relevance--and the music sounds with an originality and spiritual force that's as fresh as ever, from the stirring, ominous orchestral opening to the closing strains of the choir and soloists singing "Deep River".


There hasn't been much interest in Tippett's music for quite a while, but as things tend to go with great but neglected composers, it's only a matter of time before performers and record companies "rediscover" his orchestral and chamber music, his choral works and songs, and his five operas. If you don't know Tippett, here is an ideal place to begin; if you're a choral music fan and somehow missed this the first time around, don't hesitate.
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com