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Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horns & Strings; Les Illuminations; Nocturnes; Sinfonia da Requiem; Simple Symphony; Four Sea Interludes; Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra
B. Britten
Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horns & Strings; Les Illuminations; Nocturnes; Sinfonia da Requiem; Simple Symphony; Four Sea Interludes; Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra
Genres: Pop, Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (26) - Disc #1
  •  Track Listings (26) - Disc #2

Featuring the brilliantly diverse compositions of Englishman Benjamin Britten, this 2-CD set from EMI Classics features music written in the 20th century, a period of enormous upheaval, both political and artistic. During...  more »

     
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Featuring the brilliantly diverse compositions of Englishman Benjamin Britten, this 2-CD set from EMI Classics features music written in the 20th century, a period of enormous upheaval, both political and artistic. During these 100 years music went through an unprecedented period of revolution and transformation, and the music illustrates how these changes manifested themselves in the musical landscape.
 

CD Reviews

I hope you find this review better than the other two
Ian George Fraser | Brazil | 01/05/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)

"
Let me nail my colors to the mast and say that I think Benjamin Britten was one of the greatest of all composers and musicians. The original recordings of his works made mostly in the 1960s with the composer himself conducting and artists like Peter Pears are beyond compare and above all in those works in which he sets words to music. Robert Tear is a worthy second, however, as tenor and Stueart Bedford and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra do nothing wrong in the accompaniment. My major complaint is that none of the texts are provided in the notes. This is a serious insult to many fine works of literature which stand in their own right and it is the only reason why I give this recording only 3 stars. Rimbaud in particular suffers, as few nowadays, especially in the English-speaking world, are familiar with his French poetry. He has been described as one the first "protest poet". Not only a text but a translation was needed.



Disc No.2 with the Liverpool PO and Pescek is more straightforward. I was interested to see how they would play they would play the famous "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra". Britten subtitled this, with his typical understatement and irony,"Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell". The composer was of course aware that the piece could be seen in two different ways, just as in the final fugue he has the theme being played simultaneously in two completely different tempi. It can be played purely as an orchestral tour de force, with all the various sections allowed to show off "for the kids" or it can be played in a more restrained manner, as per "Variations and Fugue....." In this recording Pescek opts for a middle approach with plenty of brilliant individual playing but a serious attitude to the work as a whole, which is one of the best things Britten ever wrote, inspired by his genuine love of childhood and children, whom he never underestimated.

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