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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Britten: Peter Grimes
Peter Pears, Claire Watson, Royal Opera House Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 1 de jan. de 1959
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Britten: War Requiem, Op. 66: II. Dies irae: e. Recordare Jesu pie
London Symphony Chorus, The Bach Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 20 de set. de 2023
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Britten: Billy Budd/The Holy Sonnets of John Donne etc.
Peter Pears, Alexander Faris, London Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 1 de jan. de 1989
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Britten: Albert Herring
Peter Pears, English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 1 de jan. de 1964
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Britten Great Recordings
Classical - Lançado por UME - Global Clearing House em 5 de dez. de 2020
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Benjamin Britten: Song Cycles
Peter Pears, Helen Watts, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Lançado por Heritage Records em 7 de ago. de 2021
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Britten: Music for Strings
Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Lars Anders Tomter
Classical - Lançado por Simax Classics em 12 de jun. de 1991
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Britten Symphony for Cello and Orchestra and Haydn Cello Concerto
Mstislav Rostropovich, Benjamin Britten, English Chamber Orchestra
Classical - Lançado por Mangora Classical em 19 de jun. de 2016
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Salute To Percy Grainger
Benjamin Britten, Steuart Bedford, John Eliot Gardiner
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 1 de jan. de 2013
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Bach, J.S.: Cantatas Nos. 102 & 151 / Purcell: Celebrate this Festival
Benjamin Britten, (Dame) Janet Baker, James Bowman, Peter Pears, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, English Chamber Orchestra
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 22 de jun. de 2000
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Mozart: Symphonies Nos.25 & 29; Serenata Notturna
English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Lançado por Decca (UMO) em 1 de jan. de 1991
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Britten: The Turn of the Screw
Peter Pears, Jennifer Vyvyan, David Hemmings, Joan Cross, The English Opera Group Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 1 de jan. de 1955
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Britten: Suite for Harp, Op. 83
Chamber Music - Lançado por Antarctica Records em 4 de jun. de 2021
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Britten: The Simple Symphony, Op. 4 (Digitally Remastered)
Slovak Chamber Orchestra, Bohdan Warchal
Classical - Lançado por EMG Classical em 29 de abr. de 2012
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English Music for Strings
English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Lançado por Decca (UMO) em 1 de jan. de 1995
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English Song
Peter Pears, Benjamin Britten, Julian Bream
Classical - Lançado por Heritage Records em 1 de jan. de 2011
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Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20 (Digitally Remastered)
Moscow RTV Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev
Classical - Lançado por EMG Classical em 29 de abr. de 2012
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Saint Nicolas
Classical - Lançado por Claves Records em 1 de jan. de 2003
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The Turn of the Screw
Classical - Lançado por Glyndebourne Enterprises - X5 Music Group em 11 de ago. de 2011
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Britten: Saint Nicolas; Rejoice in the Lamb
Peter Pears, David Hemmings, The Aldeburgh Festival Choir, The Aldeburgh Festival Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 1 de jan. de 1990
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Britten: The Five Canticles - Wigmore Hall Live
Classical - Lançado por Wigmore Hall Live em 28 de out. de 2013
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