for SSAATTBB unaccompanied Text: Randall Swingler Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 2 Advance Democracy is a piece of unabashed political propaganda commissioned by the London Co-operative Society. At a time of great anxiety in Europe and on the eve of the second World War, this poem by Randall Swingler paints a dark picture of the threat of dictatorship if democracy doesn't 'rise up and cry that what our fathers fought for well not allow to die'. It is a strange piece and its overtly political message makes it quite difficult to programme except as a curiosity. Britten, however, paints a very clever picture with a long legato line moving constantly through the texture from soprano to bass and back much in the manner which he had used in The Three Kings in A Boy was Born. Around this swirling figure the other parts sing sharply punctuated chords which are full of menace. The final section moves into the major (Britten's brightly flag-waving C major) and the ending is forcefu