While I am covering Benjamin Britten: The Rarities, a 2CD set on Decca's British Music Collection series, there is another single CD on Decca Australian Eloquence entitled Britten Rarities.
The good news is there is only one carry over between the two recordings - the 1957 performance of Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac from Peter Pears and Norma Proctor. Other than that one 16-minute work, there are no duplicates, so buy both in confidence.
Speaking of duplicates, I already own Britten's performance of Cantata Academica on Decca Australian Eloquence (BLOG), an orchestrated choral work and performance I am utterly enthusiastic over, and push on anyone who will listen to me. Its music is a riot, bringing to my imagination a sort of British Carmina Burana.
Another large choral work included is Cantata Misericordium, a piece I was not taken with under Sir Richard Hickox on Chandos (BLOG). Well, leave it to the team of Peter Pears, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and the LSO playing under Britten himself to turn the music around for me. His is a thrilling performance, found in wonderful analogue sound.
The last large choral/orchestral work is Children's Crusade for boys choir and chamber ensemble. Of the three I have mentioned so far, this is the most bafflingly modern sounding, with a text of great import and seriousness, but one I don't completely understand what is going on in the story. Britten is again on hand to lead the proceedings.
The rest of the program is mostly made up of song cycles and instrumental works. A Birthday Hansel and Six Hölderin Fragments are sung by tenor Peter Pears and accompanied by Osian Ellis on harp and Britten at the piano, respectively. Hölderin is written in German, and like Britten's foreign-language cycles Chansons and Sonnets, the composer inhabits a lieder style remarkably reflective of Schubert or Schumann, yet in a more modern idiom. A Birthday Hansel is set in a mightily entertaining Scottish brogue on words by Robert Burns, lapped up by Peter Pears.
The premiere recordings of The Poet's Echo and Gemini Variations are also included. Soprano Galina Vishnevskaya with Mstislav Rostropovich at the keyboard tackle The Poet's Echo in Russian, while Zoltán and Gábor Jeney duet at the piano while simultaneously swapping out to solo on flute and violin. Neither are the most attractive works to my ears, but the Gemini Variations is the one in the most variable and dry sound, plus whichever brother is the flautist, they are more secure than the violinist.
The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble plays Russian Funeral, a piece I rather enjoy for its Romanticism, even if it is slight in the realm of Britten's oeuvre. Also rather slight is the Two Insect Pieces played by the great oboist Heinz Holliger and pianist András Schiff.
If you are wanting to dig into the rarely recorded works of Benjamin Britten, with a mix of large-scale choral/orchestral cantatas, song cycles, and instrumental duets, you will get your fair share here. I am actually more taken with the Decca Eloquence Britten Rarities mentioned at the top, mainly for its more substantial works, but this is a great 2CD set for the die-hard Britten enthusiast.
This recording will probably only be for the Benjamin Britten enthusiast.
Most of the performances are at the hand of Benjamin Britten himself, or at least from his friends for which they were written.
I can't say all of this music captured my imagination, but there is a goodly variety. Most are in pretty decent sound too, especially considering the variety of dates and sources, which range from 1957 to 1991.
2 comments:
Excellent, interesting post.
There is a wonderful blog called Good Morning Britten. On the Gemini Variations page, which I will link to below, Zoltán Jeney actually speaks of their poor recording, set down as mere students. It is a most interesting read, and the whole website is a wonderful resource:
https://goodmorningbritten.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/listening-to-britten-gemini-variations-op-73
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