Radio 3 in Concert: The BBC Singers at the Aldeburgh Festival

Live from the Aldeburgh Festival: the BBC Singers present a typically imaginative programme which includes a world premiere, two twentieth century choral classics and a rarity by the young Benjamin Britten. The BBC Singers are conducted at the Snape Maltings by their principal guest conductor Owain Park in a programme which opens with Thea Musgrave's richly harmonic Rorate Coeli, a setting of two interleaved poems by Scottish poet William Dunbar. Then comes Britten's A.M.D.G. 'To the greater glory of God,' an entrancing setting of mystical and uplifting poems by Gerald Manley Hopkins. Then, after a joyful motet by Palestrina, the BBC Singers give the premiere of a work by Daniel Kidane to words by Simon Armitage - although confined to a single space, so many could not help but sing and make music. Then comes Friede auf Erden, (Peace on Earth), Op. 13, by Arnold Schoenberg, a 10-minute classic which explores the idea of peace and the complexities of human harmony. And this ambitious Aldeburgh programme culminates with Francis Poulenc's Figure humaine, a searing masterpiece famously given its premiere by the BBC Singers in 1945. Written in secret during the Nazi occupation of France, it's a setting of poems by Paul Éluard that journey through the human spirit from grief and tyranny to freedom, ending with a heart-rending cry of 'Liberté. Presented by Martin Handley live from the Snape Maltings Concert Hall. Thea Musgrave: Rorate coeli Britten: A.M.D.G. Palestrina: Rorate coeli Interval Daniel Kidane: The Song Thrush and the Mountain Ash Schoenberg: Friede auf Erden, Op.13 Poulenc: Figure humaine BBC Singers, conductor Owain Park