Britten - A Ceremony of Carols & Saint Nicolas - The Daily Telegraph

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Although we tend to associate Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols with the timbre of boy trebles, it was originally conceived for women’s voices, and the mix of choirs on this recording makes for a performance that has lustre and potent atmosphere, heightened by the piquancy of Sally Pryce’s harp playing.  The coupling is another Christmas favourite, the cantata “Saint Nicolas”, in which Stephen Layton directs and interpretation of subtlety and dramatic thrust.