Healthy Living Books Music

Rating: - Tippett's Autumnal Performance of His Powerful Early Work
The late Sir Michael Tippett was a lifelong pacifist who served a brief sentence during World War II as a conscientious objector. He wrote 'A Child of Our Time' early in WW II and he wrote the text for it himself after T. S. Eliot, whom he had asked to supply the libretto, told him that Tippett's own outline was sufficient to the task. The narrative of the cantata is about a Polish boy living with relatives in France after his parents had been killed by the Nazis who himself then shot and killed a German official in 1938. He was imprisoned by the French government but that apparently wasn't punishment enough; in reprisal for the act the Nazis carried out the horrific 'Kristallnacht.' Tippett's text is not a simple condemnation of the Nazis, but rather it explores the complex psychological issues on both sides of the question of whether the boy's act was justified. Clearly, though, his sympathies are with the boy and the others who were persecuted by the Nazis. Indeed, one aspect of this great cantata is the use of spirituals to convey the feelings of the persecuted Jews.

There have been a number of fine recordings of this work, foremost of which is that of Colin Davis. (I've never heard the earliest recording, with John Pritchard conducting and the singing of the great Elsie Morison and Richard Lewis.) The composer, though, obviously had something personal to say in his performance of the work. This recording, made in 1991 when Tippett was 86 and previously released on Collins Classics, has an autumnal quality that may partly arise from Tippett's age, but which also emerges from the musical and textual materials themselves. Tempi are rather slow and one familiar with the brilliant Davis recording might, initially, become a bit impatient. But the payoff is that the piece builds and builds to the shattering end, the chorus singing 'Deep River.' Tippett, it turns out, knew what he was doing here. This is not simply an old man's performance but one of great power by the man who created the work fifty years earlier. It is to Naxos's credit that they licensed this performance from Collins, now defunct as a record label, and make it available at superbudget price.

The City of Birmingham Symphony and Chorus perform admirably and the solos, sung by Faye Robinson, Sarah Walker, John Garrison, and John Cheek are all one could ask. This is a wonderful recording well worth its modest asking price.

TT=69:19

Scott Morrison