Tuesday, August 14, 2012

New London Children's Choir - The Useful Plough

Credit where credit due to Wes Anderson, that track The Cuckoo is a sick crate-dig. So I had to pick up a copy of this CD, which I (mistakenly) believed to include the performance featured in the film. Anyroad, this track The Useful Plough is another standout from the same Benjamin Britten suite (Friday Afternoons) whence The Cuckoo is drawn.

Britten wrote Friday Afternoons for his schoolmaster brother, Robert, and the boys of Clive House preparatory school, Prestatyn. (Choir practice used to take place on Friday afternoons.) The text of The Useful Plough is anonymous, and Britten set it to music on May 14th, 1934, which was (appropriately) a Monday. He was 20 years old.

No courtier may
Compare with them who clothe in grey,
And follow the useful plough.

3 comments:

plague said...

Very nice. Thanks. Still haven't seen Moonrise Kingdom yet (after having experienced diminishing returns on Wes Anderson since about 2000), but will now try to get on it!

Emmett said...

Glad you enjoyed it, Plague. I can't vouch for the film one way or the other but... enjoy!

Big B said...

I'll vouch for the film.

I think credit should go to Anderson's music supervisor - Randall Poster. Here's a recent pod cast on his work.