17 Nov 2013

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

From Composer of the Week, 9:15 am on 17 November 2013
Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

 

For Benjamin Britten’s hundredth birthday, Peter Walls looked at the composer’s life and music over two programmes: the first considers a range of Britten’s works; the second is devoted to opera.

Britten struggled with his perceived place in British musical tradition, as Peter Walls puts it, with "the anxiety of influence - a fear of being categorized as the new arrival in a line of British composers." He pushed against the work of Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Ireland, but found a mentor in Frank Bridge.

It was when in California, in 1941, that Britten first read George Crabbe's poem, Peter Grimes. At that moment he realised he belonged in Britain, in Suffolk, where, like Crabbe,  he'd been born.

Music Details for Part 1:

BRITTEN: Sinfonietta, 3rd mvt - Nikolai Lugansky (pno), Lyn Fletcher (vln), Dara de Cogan (vln), Tim Pooley (vla), Peter Worrall (cello), Hallé Orch (Erato 3984 25502)
BRITTEN: Violin Concerto mvt 1 - James Ehnes (vln), Bournemouth SO ( Onyx 4113)
BRITTEN: Albert Herring - City of London Sinfonia/ Richard Hickox (Chandos CHAN 10036)
BRITTEN: Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge - ASMF/ Neville Marriner (London 421 391)
BRITTEN: Night Mail, mvt 3 - Simon Russell Beale (narrator), Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (NMC D 112)
BRITTEN: Michelangelo Sonnets, No XXXI - Peter Pears (ten), Benjamin Britten (pno) ( Decca 425 996)
BRITTEN: Lacrymosa from Sinfonia da Requiem - CBSO/ Simon Rattle ( EMI CDS 7 54270)
BRITTEN: Still falls the rain - Ian Bostridge (ten), Timothy Brown (horn), Julius Drake (pno) ( Virgin 5 45525)
BRITTEN: Dies Irae, from War Requiem - Christine Brewer (sop), Anthony Dean Griffey (ten), Gerald Finley (bar), Tiffin Boys' Choir, London Philharmonic Choir & Orch ( LPO 0010)
BRITTEN: Serenade, Hymn  - Peter Pears (ten), Dennis Brain (horn), Boyd Neel String Orch (Decca 425 996)
BRITTEN: Fugue, from Young Person's Guide - Celia Craig (cor anglais), Bournemouth SO/ Hickox (Chandos CHAN 9221)
BRITTEN: String Quartet No 3, mvt 5 -  Sorrel Quartet (Chandos CHAN 9469)