Benjamin Britten
With the arrival of Benjamin Britten on the international music scene, many felt that English music gained its greatest genius since Purcell. A composer of wide-ranging talents, Britten found in the human voice an especial source of inspiration, an affinity that resulted in a remarkable body of work, ranging from operas like Peter Grimes (1944-1945) and Death in Venice (1973) to song cycles like the Serenade for tenor, horn, and strings (1943) to the massive choral work War Requiem (1961). He also produced much music for orchestra and chamber ensembles, including symphonies, concerti, and chamber and solo works.
Britten's father was a prosperous oral surgeon in the town of Lowestoft, Suffolk; his mother was a leader in the local choral society. When Benjamin's musical aptitude became evident, the family engaged composer Frank Bridge to supervise his musical education. Bridge's tutelage was one of the formative and lasting influences on Britten's compositional development; he eventually paid tribute to his teacher in his Op. 10, the Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge (1937). Britten's formal training also included studies at the Royal College of Music (1930-1933).
Upon graduation from the RCM, Britten obtained a position scoring documentaries (on prosaic themes like "Sorting Office") for the Royal Post Office film unit. Working on a tight budget, he learned how to extract the maximum variety of color and musical effectiveness from the smallest combinations of instruments, producing dozens of such scores from 1935 to 1938. He rapidly emerged as the most promising British composer of his generation and entered into collaborative relationships that exerted a profound influence upon his creative life. Among the most important of his professional associates were literary figures like W.H. Auden, and later, E.M. Forster. None, however, played as central a role in Britten's life as the tenor Peter Pears, who was Britten's closest intimate, both personally and professionally, from the late '30s to the composer's death. Pears' voice inspired a number of Britten's vocal cycles and opera roles, and the two often joined forces in song recitals and, from 1948, in the organization and administration of the Aldeburgh Festival.
A steadfast pacifist, Britten left England in 1939 as war loomed over Europe. He spent four years in the United States and Canada, his compositional pace barely slackening, as evidenced by the production of works like the Sinfonia da Requiem (1940), the song cycle Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (1940), and his first effort for the stage, Paul Bunyan (1940-1941). Eventually, the poetry of George Crabbe drew Britten back to England. With a Koussevitzky Commission backing him, the composer wrote the enormously successful opera Peter Grimes (1944-1945), which marked the greatest turning point in his career. His fame secure, Britten over the next several decades wrote a dozen more operas, several of which -- Albert Herring (1947), Billy Budd (1951), The Turn of the Screw (1954), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960), Death in Venice (1973) -- became instant and permanent fixtures of the repertoire. He also continued to produce much vocal, orchestral, and chamber music, including Songs and Proverbs of William Blake (1965), the three Cello Suites (1961-1964) and the Cello Symphony (1963), written for Mstislav Rostropovich, and the Third String Quartet (1975).
Britten suffered a stroke during heart surgery in 1971, which resulted in something of a slowdown in his creative activities. Nonetheless, he continued to compose until his death in 1976, by which time he was recognized as one of the principal musical figures of the 20th century.
© Michael Rodman /TiVo
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The Little Sweep & extracts from Peter Grimes
Opera - Released by Perfect Pitch on 7 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: The Prodigal Son
Peter Pears, John Shirley-Quirk, Bryan Drake, English Opera Group Orchestra, Benjamin Britten, Viola Tunnard
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1969
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: War Requiem (2023 Remastered Version)
London Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1963
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten & Prokofiev: Cello Sonatas
Chamber Music - Released by KSG Exaudio on 31 Mar 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: 4 Chansons Françaises: II. Sagesse
Sinfonieorchester Basel, Ivor Bolton, Christina Landshamer
Classical - Released by Prospero Classical on 5 Aug 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Själ och Landskap - Soul and Landscape (Extended Version)
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Naxos Sweden - Caprice on 19 May 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Who are these Children?; Winter Words; Michaelangelo Sonnets; Tit for Tat; Let The Florid music praise; Purcell realisations
Peter Pears, John Shirley-Quirk, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 Jan 2006
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Rostropovich Plays Britten, Bridge, Handel and Bach
Classical - Released by Pipeline Music on 30 Nov 2006
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Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 39 & 41; 2 Concert Arias (Live)
Benjamin Britten, English Chamber Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 22 Jun 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spring Symphony, Op. 44
Classical - Released by Pipeline Music on 7 Jun 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
War Requiem, Op. 66
Benjamin Britten, London Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Music Today Records on 22 Jun 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A New Year Carol (Arr. James Jones)
Classical - Released by James Jones Music on 31 Jan 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Benjamin Britten: The Turn of the Screw
Peter Pears, Benjamin Britten, English Opera Group Orchestra
Opera - Released by G.O.P. on 10 Jul 2020
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Benjamin Britten - Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo Op.22 · Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings Op.31
Opera - Released by G.O.P. on 17 Jul 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev & Britten - Peter and the Wolf - The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
Sergei Prokofiev, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Released by Sharp Edge Records on 31 Dec 2014
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Britten: Les Illuminations - Debussy: Ariettes oubliées & Clair de Lune
Sofie Asplund, Benjamin Britten, Claude Debussy, LuKaS - Lunds Kammarsolister
Classical - Released by Swedish Society on 19 Nov 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Classics in Heaven
Classical - Released by ADAGIO on 29 Mar 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell Op. 34
Malcolm Sargent, The B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Sunday Club Records on 23 Sep 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Concerto No. 12 in A Major for Piano and Orchestra, K. 414
Benjamin Britten, The Aldeburgh Festival Orchestra
Classical - Released by Discover Classical Music on 1 Aug 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Simple Symphony for String Orchestra, Op. 4
Malcolm Sargent, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Sunday Club Records on 23 Sep 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: The Rape of Lucretia
English Chamber Orchestra, Reginald Goodell
Opera - Released by Sunday Club Records on 11 Aug 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo