Only a conductor of Robert Shaw's experience could hope to shed new light on a score the composer himself had so convincingly presented on record. Shaw finds a meditative gentleness in the music that is new and touching, and imparts a distant, sad feeling to the climaxes that deepens their ambivalence. The solo singing is on a par with that of Britten's recording--the diction is in fact better--and the choral singing is suffused with Shaw's unique magic. Telarc's digital recording is a bona fide sonic spectacular.