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: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Alfred Deller, Elizabeth Harwood, Choirs Of Downside And Emanuel Schools, London Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1966
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Britten Collection
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
Classical - Released by Coro on 4 Mar 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28 - Missa Brevis, Op. 63 - Friday Afternoons, Op. 7 - Three Two-Part Songs
Little Singers of Armenia Choir
Classical - Released by VDE-GALLO on 12 May 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Folksongs
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Johannes-Passion
Peter Pears, Wandsworth School Boys Choir, English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1972
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Blest Cecilia: Britten Choral Works 1
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
Classical - Released by Coro on 1 Jan 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Essential Benjamin Britten
Classical - Released by Warner Classics International on 1 Mar 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: String Quartets 2 & 3
Classical - Released by Challenge Classics on 10 Mar 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten & Shostakovich
Classical - Released by Onyx Classics on 20 May 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Peter Grimes
Peter Pears, Claire Watson, Royal Opera House Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1959
The Qobuz Essential Discography24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: War Requiem, Op. 66: II. Dies irae: e. Recordare Jesu pie
London Symphony Chorus, The Bach Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 20 Sep 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Billy Budd/The Holy Sonnets of John Donne etc.
Peter Pears, Alexander Faris, London Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: The Three Suites for Cello Solo
Classical - Released by Globe on 19 Aug 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Albert Herring
Peter Pears, English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1964
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten Great Recordings
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 5 Dec 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Benjamin Britten: Song Cycles
Peter Pears, Helen Watts, Benjamin Britten
Classical - Released by Heritage Records on 7 Aug 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Music for Strings
Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Lars Anders Tomter
Classical - Released by Simax Classics on 12 Jun 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten Symphony for Cello and Orchestra and Haydn Cello Concerto
Mstislav Rostropovich, Benjamin Britten, English Chamber Orchestra
Classical - Released by Mangora Classical on 19 Jun 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Salute To Percy Grainger
Benjamin Britten, Steuart Bedford, John Eliot Gardiner
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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 - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 22 Jun 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo