Benjamin Britten

[Karl Henning]

You love Britten more than RVW?! I'm cryin', John.

BTW, this is the Britten thread.

In case that had excaped you 

[Mirror Image]

You love Britten more than RVW?! I'm cryin', John.

I thought I already answered this question?

[kyjo]

I thought I already answered this question?

I saw your post before your PM!

[Mirror Image]

Anyway, Britten's music haunts me to no end. That last movement of War Requiem is truly something else. After so much destruction, comes this reverie of serenity.

[Mirror Image]

I saw your post before your PM!

I answered the question before the PM. I said that I agreed with whoever said that Britten was 'the greatest English composer since Purcell.' What does this tell you?

[The new erato]

I answered the question before the PM. I said that I agreed with whoever said that Britten was 'the greatest English composer since Purcell.'

I think that may be so. But though I love quite a few Britten works, I find I connect more easily with RWV as well as admiring the man deeply. That is quite another matter though.

[Mirror Image]

I think that may be so. But though I love quite a few Britten works, I find I connect more easily with RWV as well as admiring the man deeply. That is quite another matter though.

Sure, I think RVW would have been someone you could talk to about anything. But, with Britten, as Janet Baker stated in that documentary "I was always very careful not to get too close to the flame."

[Mirror Image]

    That comment about horrid modern music isn't just a joke. It says something about his music, which explores extremes of beauty and ugliness. I find Britten to be a very uncompromising composer, and such single-minded devotion is usually found among avant-gardists. Britten seems to have come upon the idea that there are more expressive opportunities in shattering tonal expectations without leaving tonality behind than there would be by adopting an alternative.

     After my recent immersion in the Cello Symphony and the War Requiem I listened to Walton's Belshazzar's Feast. By comparison it sounds like Elgar with a Broadway sensibility superimposed (it might have been called Belshazzar!). This isn't really a knock on Walton, a composer I admire, but it shows the astonishing way Britten freed himself from tradition without disowning it, as well as the extent that other composers were either unable or unwilling to do so.

A wonderful post that I completely agree with.

[The new erato]

Seems to me that some of the same could be said of Bartok.

[Mirror Image]

Seems to me that some of the same could be said of Bartok.

Absolutely and another one of my favorite composers.

[Mirror Image]

I find much of his music, especially the later works, to be rather "cold".

You may want to go get your ears cleaned out, Kyle, because you're completely off the mark here. To feel absolutely nothing from the last movement of Death in Venice or the War Requiem leaves me to question who actually is 'cold.'

[Mirror Image]

Found this on YT, this is the Connolly/Gardner performance of Phaedra I've been raving about on the 'Listening' thread:

http://www.youtube.com/v/rWkU_C5QO4U

Of course, to have it on CD blasting through your stereo system is a thing of beauty.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Here's a question for all of you Brittenites, what would you say are the main characteristics of Britten's sound-world? I know he was quite a chameleon stylistically, but what were the dominant kinds of techniques he used in his music?

I can't think of anything scholarly that might answer your question MI but for me I admire Britten's single-mindedness in avoiding the dreaded "flavor-of-the-day" syndrome and remain so individual as to be practically an island unto himself. There's a confidence to his style that says simply "take it or leave it only don't be indifferent about it". At least that's how I hear it.

Not that other composers haven't had the same thing in mind when composing but if the process works well enough to generate interest then the fan base is established. Anyway, like I said, nothing profound.

[lescamil]

Some stuff from a Britten celebration concert in Helsinki:

http://areena.yle.fi/tv/2093751

http://areena.yle.fi/tv/2093752

[North Star]

Some stuff from a Britten celebration concert in Helsinki:

http://areena.yle.fi/tv/2093751

http://areena.yle.fi/tv/2093752

Thanks, I don't know how I managed to miss these before.
(first link is the Passacaglia from Grimes, and the second the VC with Simone Lamsma, both with Denève and Finnish RSO)

[Mirror Image]

I can't think of anything scholarly that might answer your question MI but for me I admire Britten's single-mindedness in avoiding the dreaded "flavor-of-the-day" syndrome and remain so individual as to be practically an island unto himself. There's a confidence to his style that says simply "take it or leave it only don't be indifferent about it". At least that's how I hear it.

Not that other composers haven't had the same thing in mind when composing but if the process works well enough to generate interest then the fan base is established. Anyway, like I said, nothing profound.

I'm glad he didn't go that 'avant garde' route and stuck to what he felt he should be composing. He stayed true to himself and that's certainly an admirable quality.

[TheGSMoeller]

I am continuously thinking about the War Requiem performance I attended a few weeks ago in Chicago. The brilliant use and staging of the three groups (orchestra, chamber group, children's choir) is not fully realized in a recording, although not unsuccessful, but you get much closer to Britten's idea. The CSO was setup normally with the exception of the violas which were pushed back next to wood winds and brass (poor violas) and the first row of strings back one row. This made room for the chamber group to be placed directly behind the soloists. The biggest issue with this was the five string players were positioned more behind the soprano who does not sing with the chamber group. But in most recordings the chamber group seems to come from within the orchestra, which doesn't hinder the recordings, but you understand the true relationship between the chamber group and tenor and baritone once you see them working together.
The best part was the children's choir which was separated into two groups placed on opposite sides of the first balcony. Where I was seated I could see the children's group on the right side, but the other group was below out of sight, so when they sing it had an eerie, echoey quality.
I read some mixed reviews about the performance and Dutoit's interpretation, although one CSO musician did speak positively of Dutoit to me, and the audience's rapturous applause seemed to never end (isn't that what it's all about anyway?). I personally found it miraculous, Dutoit used patience throughout, it never once felt rushed, especially the final baritone solo, "I am the enemy you killed, my friend." Matthias Goerne sang this as if he was feeling the pain, soft and full of sadness, I don't think I had ever heard an audience so still and quiet.

[Karl Henning]

Wonderful, Greg.  I witnessed a performance in the Grand Hall of the Philharmonic in St Petersburg . . . I remember it being magnificent, though I blush to find I do not recall the specific performers . . . .

[Mirror Image]

I am continuously thinking about the War Requiem performance I attended a few weeks ago in Chicago. The brilliant use and staging of the three groups (orchestra, chamber group, children's choir) is not fully realized in a recording, although not unsuccessful, but you get much closer to Britten's idea. The CSO was setup normally with the exception of the violas which were pushed back next to wood winds and brass (poor violas) and the first row of strings back one row. This made room for the chamber group to be placed directly behind the soloists. The biggest issue with this was the five string players were positioned more behind the soprano who does not sing with the chamber group. But in most recordings the chamber group seems to come from within the orchestra, which doesn't hinder the recordings, but you understand the true relationship between the chamber group and tenor and baritone once you see them working together.
The best part was the children's choir which was separated into two groups placed on opposite sides of the first balcony. Where I was seated I could see the children's group on the right side, but the other group was below out of sight, so when they sing it had an eerie, echoey quality.
I read some mixed reviews about the performance and Dutoit's interpretation, although one CSO musician did speak positively of Dutoit to me, and the audience's rapturous applause seemed to never end (isn't that what it's all about anyway?). I personally found it miraculous, Dutoit used patience throughout, it never once felt rushed, especially the final baritone solo, "I am the enemy you killed, my friend." Matthias Goerne sang this as if he was feeling the pain, soft and full of sadness, I don't think I had ever heard an audience so still and quiet.

I imagine the War Requiem being a spectacle to behold. You're very fortunate to have heard the CSO in this masterpiece. Thanks for sharing this memory with us.

[TheGSMoeller]

I imagine the War Requiem being a spectacle to behold. You're very fortunate to have heard the CSO in this masterpiece. Thanks for sharing this memory with us.

You know that Atlanta SO is performing this in April, four months too late of course.