English composer Michael Tippett wrote his oratorio A Child of Our Time between 1939 and 1941. Written in the middle of the war, the work is typical of the writer's pacifism and anti-Nazism. It tells the story of a young man feeling out of place in the society around him. Inspired by the true story of a young Polish Jew who killed a German diplomat in 1938, providing the pretext for the horrors of Kristallnacht, this profane oratorio underscores the darkness and light which are a part of all of us.
Formally, Tippett's situates itself in a long tradition of English oratorios going back to Handel's Messiah, structured around a succession of arias and recitatives in the style of Bach's Passions . The score is characterised by the use of American "spirituals", songs of oppression which also play the role of Bach's chorales.
This album is the first of three recordings by Sir Colin Davis, a great defender of Tippett's music in general and of this masterpiece in particular. Made in London in 1975 with the exceptional voices and dramatic performances of Jessye Norman and Janet Baker, this vibrant manifesto for peace is conducted with great fervour by Sir Colin Davis, with the forces of the BBC on hand, supported by the voices of Richard Cassilly, tenor, and John Shirley-Quirk, bass. Begun on the day that Britain declared war on Hitler's Germany, this oratorio is a response to European barbarism and disunity. It is a strong work with a message which is as depressing as it is contemporary. © François Hudry/Qobuz