The Children's Choir of the Brussels Monnaie Royal Opera House give us here their first CD. It is the fruit of two seasons devoted to Benjamin Britten's works, which culminated in December 2004 with superb performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream. We discover here an attractive selection of works for children voices composed by the British master, in committed performances by very young and refreshing voices (10 to 14 years old). From Beware, composed when Britten was 11, to Golden Vanity, a pocket-opera created in 1967 by the WienersŠngerknaben via the delightful Friday Afternoons, the world of childness according to Britten will seduce the listener by the composer's aptitude at alternating simplicity and complexity, violence and sweetness, smiles and tears in a refined miniature world. |