Tippett works revived with panache

This disc from Mark Padmore and Roger Vignoles should silence those critics who've dismissed Tippett as outdated

Composer: Britten, Finzi & Tippett
Repertoire: Song-cycles
Artists: Mark Padmore (tenor), Roger Vignoles (piano)
Rating: 4/5 
Genre: Vocal/instrumental
Label: Hyperion CDA67459

A handful of cloth-eared critics opened Tippett’s centenary year by dismissing his work as dated, quirky rubbish. The evidence of Boyhood’s End, written for Britten and Peter Pears in 1943, should suffice to qualify such opinion, particularly when performed with the panache shown here. Finzi’s lyrical A Young Man’s Exhortation, despite Padmore’s splendidly vivid singing, sounds much more of its time.