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 Vol. 2
Peter Pears, Benjamin Britten, Royal Opera House Orchestra
Klassik - Erschienen bei Revolver Music Ltd. am 31.12.1959
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Britten: The Little Sweep; Gemini Variations; Children's Crusade
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.1993
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Britten: Song Cycles
Klassik - Erschienen bei Heritage Records am 10.11.2014
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The Little Sweep & extracts from Peter Grimes
Oper - Erschienen bei Perfect Pitch am 07.01.2007
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Britten: Winter Words / Moore’s Irish Melodies / Church Music
Klassik - Erschienen bei The Digital Gramophone am 22.04.2013
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Chopin: 3 Valses, Orchestral Version (Mono Version)
Joseph Levine, Ballet Theatre Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1955
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Britten: 7 Sonnets of Michelangelo & Winter Words (Mono Version)
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1950
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Britten: The Prodigal Son
Peter Pears, John Shirley-Quirk, Bryan Drake, English Opera Group Orchestra, Benjamin Britten, Viola Tunnard
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.1969
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Britten: War Requiem (2023 Remastered Version)
London Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.1963
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Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin
Klassik - Erschienen bei Past Classics am 10.07.2011
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Britten & Prokofiev: Cello Sonatas
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei KSG Exaudio am 31.03.2022
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Britten: 4 Chansons Françaises: II. Sagesse
Sinfonieorchester Basel, Ivor Bolton, Christina Landshamer
Klassik - Erschienen bei Prospero Classical am 05.08.2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Själ och Landskap - Soul and Landscape (Extended Version)
Vokalmusik (weltlich und geistlich) - Erschienen bei Naxos Sweden - Caprice am 19.05.2017
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Rostropovich Plays Britten, Bridge, Handel and Bach
Klassik - Erschienen bei Pipeline Music am 30.11.2006
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Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 39 & 41; 2 Concert Arias (Live)
Benjamin Britten, English Chamber Orchestra
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 22.06.2000
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Spring Symphony, Op. 44
Klassik - Erschienen bei Pipeline Music am 07.06.2006
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Benjamin Britten Plays & Conducts
Peter Pears, Colin McPhee, Clifford Curzon, Benjamin Britten, Dennis Brain, Boyd Neel String Orchestra
Vokalmusik (weltlich und geistlich) - Erschienen bei Naxos Classical Archives am 08.01.2013
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Britten: String Quartets Nos. 2 & 3
Klassik - Erschienen bei CRD Records am 01.01.1981
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War Requiem, Op. 66
Benjamin Britten, London Symphony Orchestra
Klassik - Erschienen bei Music Today Records am 22.06.2015
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Ceremony
The Choir of Canterbury Cathedral, Camilla Pay, Tim Harper
Klassik - Erschienen bei Dean and Chapter of Canterbury am 15.08.2008
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A New Year Carol (Arr. James Jones)
Klassik - Erschienen bei James Jones Music am 31.01.2022
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