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 conducts Britten: Opera Vol.2
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: The Burning Fiery Furnace
Peter Pears, Bryan Drake, English Opera Group Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1967
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
This Wing'd Hour (Song Cycles by Vaughan Williams, Britten & Finzi)
Klassiek - Released by Phaedra on 28 mrt. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos.20,23,24,26 & 27
Clifford Curzon, English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten, London Symphony Orchestra, István Kertész
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 2001
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra; Simple Symphony, etc.
London Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 17 sep. 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata D 821 by Rostropovich & Britten
Mstislav Rostropovich, Benjamin Britten
Klassiek - Released by Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording on 15 dec. 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata / Schumann: 5 Stücke in Volkston / Debussy: Cello Sonata
Mstislav Rostropovich, Benjamin Britten
Klassiek - Released by Universal Music Ltd. on 27 jul. 2016
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Benjamin Britten: Solo Cello Suites
Kamermuziek - Released by Signum Records on 1 jul. 2013
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 in D minor & 27 in B flat
Clifford Curzon, English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1970
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Our Hunting Fathers, Quatre Chansons Françaises, Suite from "Gloriana"
Sinfonieorchester Basel, Ivor Bolton
Klassiek - Released by Prospero Classical on 2 sep. 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert/Schumann/Debussy: Works for Cello & Piano
Mstislav Rostropovich, Benjamin Britten
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 27 jul. 2016
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: A Ceremony of Carols; A Boy was Born; Psalm 150
The English Opera Group Orchestra, The Purcell Singers, Copenhagen Boys' Choir, Choristers Of All Saints, Choirs Of Downside And Emanuel Schools, Benjamin Britten
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Piano Concerto; Violin Concerto
Mark Lubotsky, Sviatoslav Richter, English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1971
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Around Britten
Kamermuziek - Released by Signum Records on 14 jan. 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Winterreise
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1965
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Serenade for tenor, horn and strings; Les Illuminations; Nocturne
Peter Pears, Barry Tuckwell, London Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1993
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Remembering Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022)
Benjamin Britten, Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Tavener
Klassiek - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 17 sep. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Ceremony Of Carols - Britten Choral Works II
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
Klassiek - Released by Coro on 1 jan. 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius/Delius: Sea Drift/Holst: Hymn of Jesus
Benjamin Britten, Sir Adrian Boult, Richard Hickox
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 4 dec. 1995
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Cello Suites 1 & 2; Sonata for Cello and Piano
Mstislav Rostropovich, Benjamin Britten
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten At Aldeburgh
Sviatoslav Richter, Benjamin Britten
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 2000
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo