Britten's Canticle II: Why Countertenor or Alto?

Started by bvy, February 12, 2008, 05:46:40 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

bvy

This is Britten's Op. 51, Abraham and Isaac. I believe Britten scored this for tenor and countertenor or alto. I wonder why he didn't score the part of Isaac for boy sorpano, given that he was, shall we say, "partial" to boys. Seriously, I know he wrote a lot for the treble voice, including some operas. And this particular piece, conceptually at least, seems most suited to tenor and treble voice.

My son has been asked to perform this. It's challenging but not impossible for him. We've heard a few recordings. Neither the countertenor nor the the female alto singing the part of Isaac do the work justice in my humble opinion. Does anyone know of any recordings (or even performances) of this work with tenor and treble?

lukeottevanger

The work was written for a particular purpose - a fund raising-tour for English Opera Group, the touring artists being Britten, Pears and Kathleen Ferrier, hence the original scoring designation. But Britten later performed it with both countertenor and boy alto, and the world premiere recording he made - I'm listening to it as I type - is with Pears and a boy alto (John Hahessy, now John Elwes - Britten also dedicated the Corpus Christi Carol to him)

bvy

Hey, thanks for the name! Here's the CD, about to be ordered: