Peter Pears 100th Anniversary

[mjwal]

For an appreciation by J.B.Steane of Peter Pears, whose 100th anniversary is on the 22nd June, go here:
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/art-and-soul-peter-pears?utm_source=adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_content=click%20here&utm_campaign=grm%20email%20newsletter%20july%202010%20row
I only saw Britten & Pears together once circa 1966 - I remember an intense performance of Dichterliebe and the Hölderlin Fragments, otherwise my memory fails to recall the programme. But I do have my personal list of recordings that I listen to again and again - corresponding in part to Steane's choice: i.e. the Serenade and Captain Vere, but also including Britten's Chinese songs and the Elizabethan lute songs with Bream - including a transcendent performance of "Have you seen but a whyte lily grow?" (perhaps the most miraculous fusion of words and music in the whole English repertoire - the words by Jonson but the music by ?), Britten's Nocturne (I prefer the live recording from Aldeburgh), Winter Words and Peter Quint - and that 2-LP set of Early Recordings including the Donne Holy Sonnets and various folk settings. There are also some treasurable vocal interpretations on an Argo 2-LP set, including Priaulx Rainier's Words for Declamation (Donne), Tippett's Songs for Ariel and Richard Rodney Bennett's setting of Tom O' Bedlam's Song - only the Tippett made it to a Belart CD, as far as I know, with Ireland, Bridge, Van Dieren and Busch. Pears belongs for me to a select group of tenors whose voices were unusual to weird but whose musicality raised them above vocal limitations: Erb, Patzak, Cuénod (who will be 108 on 26th June!)...And how could I forget the achingly nostalgic early recording of On Wenlock Edge with the Zorian Qt and Britten on piano?

[Scarpia]

For an appreciation by J.B.Steane of Peter Pears, whose 100th anniversary is on the 22nd June, go here:
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/art-and-soul-peter-pears?utm_source=adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_content=click%20here&utm_campaign=grm%20email%20newsletter%20july%202010%20row
I only saw Britten & Pears together once circa 1966 - I remember an intense performance of Dichterliebe and the Hölderlin Fragments, otherwise my memory fails to recall the programme. But I do have my personal list of recordings that I listen to again and again - corresponding in part to Steane's choice: i.e. the Serenade and Captain Vere, but also including Britten's Chinese songs and the Elizabethan lute songs with Bream - including a transcendent performance of "Have you seen but a whyte lily grow?" (perhaps the most miraculous fusion of words and music in the whole English repertoire - the words by Jonson but the music by ?), Britten's Nocturne (I prefer the live recording from Aldeburgh), Winter Words and Peter Quint - and that 2-LP set of Early Recordings including the Donne Holy Sonnets and various folk settings. There are also some treasurable vocal interpretations on an Argo 2-LP set, including Priaulx Rainier's Words for Declamation (Donne), Tippett's Songs for Ariel and Richard Rodney Bennett's setting of Tom O' Bedlam's Song - only the Tippett made it to a Belart CD, as far as I know, with Ireland, Bridge, Van Dieren and Busch. Pears belongs for me to a select group of tenors whose voices were unusual to weird but whose musicality raised them above vocal limitations: Erb, Patzak, Cuénod (who will be 108 on 26th June!)...And how could I forget the achingly nostalgic early recording of On Wenlock Edge with the Zorian Qt and Britten on piano?

Interesting.  Over at the Britten thread the consensus seems to be that it is a damn shame that all of Britten's recordings of vocal music are ruined by the presence of Peter Pears. 

[Sergeant Rock]

Interesting.  Over at the Britten thread the consensus seems to be that it is a damn shame that all of Britten's recordings of vocal music are ruined by the presence of Peter Pears.

I'm not sure there's a consensus yet. Knight and I are allergic to his voice certainly. What's your opinion, Scarpia? Love it or loathe it?

Sarge

[Scarpia]

I'm not sure there's a consensus yet. Knight and I are allergic to his voice certainly. What's your opinion, Scarpia? Love it or loathe it?

Sarge

Oh, I see.  So many posts going back and forth I didn't realize it was only two people.      As for me, I guess I don't know.  I don't think I've ever heard the sound of his voice.  The only Britten vocal music I've heard are some modern recordings of the Operas (which I've generally enjoyed).  I remember getting Britten's own war requiem recording out of the library many years ago and skipping all of the solo singing parts with horror and disgust, though. 

[knight66]

I read the item and thought it was quite well balanced. I never heard him live and now cannot; so how he was in the flesh is fairly irrelevant to me. On disc, I would pay good money not to listen to him and find him pretty much unlistenable to.

There are occasionally some beautiful notes, usually very carefully placed head notes, but I can't agree that his voice did not dry out. In Gerontius he sounds stressed and dry. His acuity with the words is never in doubt. He was an intelligent singer, but in the discs I have had through my hands he sings off the hard palate, he squeezes the tone, pushes the voice forward so it sounds nasal, pinches the tone. For Britten, love may or may not have been blind, but it was certainly deaf.

Mike

[knight66]

  I remember getting Britten's own war requiem recording out of the library many years ago and skipping all of the solo singing parts with horror and disgust, though.

That's a shame in a way, Vishnevskaya's hieratic caterwauling in the Lachrymose is worth a spin.

Mike

[Scarpia]

That's a shame in a way, Vishnevskaya's hieratic caterwauling in the Lachrymose is worth a spin.

Mike

Well, I have it on cd now so I will try.  The rehearsal sequences with Vishnevskaya are quite fascinating to listen to.

[False_Dmitry]

That's a shame in a way, Vishnevskaya's hieratic caterwauling in the Lachrymose is worth a spin.

I believe there was a performance in Moscow, in which Pears sang, alongside Vishnevskaya, and Rostropovich conducted.  I don't know who the baritone was, I can try to find out.  Sadly it was not recorded.

[knight66]

Vishnevskaya's biography is an excellent read, not sure how much of it is airbrushed, but it was well worth getting hold of.

I prefer Heather Harper in that Soprano part, she sang in the premier because of political difficulties in getting artists out of Russia at that time. Although she was near the end of her career when she did get to record it, her voice was in remarkably fine condition. But sorry, I am distracting us away from the topic and I have had my say on it.

Mike

[The new erato]

This is very much to the point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n7BCUVJkhU

Don't miss the brilliant Weill as well.

[Mandryka]

For an appreciation by J.B.Steane of Peter Pears, whose 100th anniversary is on the 22nd June, go here:
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/art-and-soul-peter-pears?utm_source=adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_content=click%20here&utm_campaign=grm%20email%20newsletter%20july%202010%20row
I only saw Britten & Pears together once circa 1966 - I remember an intense performance of Dichterliebe and the Hölderlin Fragments, otherwise my memory fails to recall the programme. But I do have my personal list of recordings that I listen to again and again - corresponding in part to Steane's choice: i.e. the Serenade and Captain Vere, but also including Britten's Chinese songs and the Elizabethan lute songs with Bream - including a transcendent performance of "Have you seen but a whyte lily grow?" (perhaps the most miraculous fusion of words and music in the whole English repertoire - the words by Jonson but the music by ?), Britten's Nocturne (I prefer the live recording from Aldeburgh), Winter Words and Peter Quint - and that 2-LP set of Early Recordings including the Donne Holy Sonnets and various folk settings. There are also some treasurable vocal interpretations on an Argo 2-LP set, including Priaulx Rainier's Words for Declamation (Donne), Tippett's Songs for Ariel and Richard Rodney Bennett's setting of Tom O' Bedlam's Song - only the Tippett made it to a Belart CD, as far as I know, with Ireland, Bridge, Van Dieren and Busch. Pears belongs for me to a select group of tenors whose voices were unusual to weird but whose musicality raised them above vocal limitations: Erb, Patzak, Cuénod (who will be 108 on 26th June!)...And how could I forget the achingly nostalgic early recording of On Wenlock Edge with the Zorian Qt and Britten on piano?

Thanks for that post.

His way with the poetry reached extraordinary heights -- as in Quint (the moment when he sings "Self deciever" is unforgettable) and in the Serenade, and "Still Falls the Rain"

But the earlier  recordings are not without interest -- like the Bach cantatas with Karl Richter.

[Mandryka]

For an appreciation by J.B.Steane of Peter Pears, whose 100th anniversary is on the 22nd June, go here:
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/art-and-soul-peter-pears?utm_source=adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_content=click%20here&utm_campaign=grm%20email%20newsletter%20july%202010%20row
I only saw Britten & Pears together once circa 1966 - I remember an intense performance of Dichterliebe and the Hölderlin Fragments, otherwise my memory fails to recall the programme. But I do have my personal list of recordings that I listen to again and again - corresponding in part to Steane's choice: i.e. the Serenade and Captain Vere, but also including Britten's Chinese songs and the Elizabethan lute songs with Bream - including a transcendent performance of "Have you seen but a whyte lily grow?" (perhaps the most miraculous fusion of words and music in the whole English repertoire - the words by Jonson but the music by ?), Britten's Nocturne (I prefer the live recording from Aldeburgh), Winter Words and Peter Quint - and that 2-LP set of Early Recordings including the Donne Holy Sonnets and various folk settings. There are also some treasurable vocal interpretations on an Argo 2-LP set, including Priaulx Rainier's Words for Declamation (Donne), Tippett's Songs for Ariel and Richard Rodney Bennett's setting of Tom O' Bedlam's Song - only the Tippett made it to a Belart CD, as far as I know, with Ireland, Bridge, Van Dieren and Busch. Pears belongs for me to a select group of tenors whose voices were unusual to weird but whose musicality raised them above vocal limitations: Erb, Patzak, Cuénod (who will be 108 on 26th June!)...And how could I forget the achingly nostalgic early recording of On Wenlock Edge with the Zorian Qt and Britten on piano?

Hi

Where is the performance of "Have you seen but a whyte lily grow?"  -- it's not on my Bream/Pears CD of Elizabethan songs.


Sorry to pester you -- but I would like to hear this recording!

BTW many of the recordings you mention -- like the Bennett and the Rainier are here:

http://www.deccaclassics.com/cat/single?PRODUCT_NR=4782345

[mjwal]

I don't feel at all pestered, rather gratified that somebody is interested. The recording is on black disc SDD 360 - A recital of lute songs , by Pears & Bream (1960 - Dowland, Rosseter, Morley, Ford, Campian & Anon). I have this and other recordings on LP and refuse to update until Decca/RCA reissue them all together. However, I see it was on a Serenata collection (a Decca label I seem to recall) and is available here at a horrendous price: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elizabethan-Lute-Songs/dp/B000025WI9/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1275909902&sr=1-5
"Don't blame me"...(on connaît la chanson)

[Mandryka]

I don't feel at all pestered, rather gratified that somebody is interested. The recording is on black disc SDD 360 - A recital of lute songs , by Pears & Bream (1960 - Dowland, Rosseter, Morley, Ford, Campian & Anon). I have this and other recordings on LP and refuse to update until Decca/RCA reissue them all together. However, I see it was on a Serenata collection (a Decca label I seem to recall) and is available here at a horrendous price: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elizabethan-Lute-Songs/dp/B000025WI9/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1275909902&sr=1-5
"Don't blame me"...(on connaît la chanson)

Accotding toThe National Libtrary of Australia here:

http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3822738

It's on this CD here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Peter-Pears-Julian-Bream-Songs/dp/B0000269AO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1275925782&sr=1-2

Which is half the price.

The web is an amazing thing!

Thanks -- I can't wait to hear irt.