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2CD Lso/Britten
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By enthusiast
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD
This 2 disc set is a bit of an odd mix: Britten conducting Gerontius; Hickox conducting Sea Drift and Boult in the Holst (Hymn of Jesus).
Britten's Gerontius is a very special performance: passionate and exciting with Britten's love of this work always evident. I loved it when I bought it in the 70s and have periodically returned to it. Peter Pears' Gerontius is, to me, a tour de force. Others have noted that he was past his best by the time the recording was made but, no matter, it is a stunning performance and belongs properly in the few recordings - all classics and unique - that he made with Britten in music by composers other than Britten. John Shirley-Quirk and Yvonne Minton both sing wonderfully, too: in addition to being an amazing conception of the work this version may also boast the best overall team of soloists of any recording. The recording is first rate.
Sea Drift is an astonishing masterpiece. It grips you immediately. Hickox and Shirley-Quirk are both absolutely perfect. Hickox - possibly the greatest post-Beecham Delius conductor - has since re-recorded the work with Bryn Terfel and the critical opinion is that this second version is even more masterful. I find that hard to believe!
The Holst work is given a solid performance by Boult and team. It is inventive and attractive and fairly memorable. Some people consider it a towering masterpiece.
Britten's Gerontius is a very special performance: passionate and exciting with Britten's love of this work always evident. I loved it when I bought it in the 70s and have periodically returned to it. Peter Pears' Gerontius is, to me, a tour de force. Others have noted that he was past his best by the time the recording was made but, no matter, it is a stunning performance and belongs properly in the few recordings - all classics and unique - that he made with Britten in music by composers other than Britten. John Shirley-Quirk and Yvonne Minton both sing wonderfully, too: in addition to being an amazing conception of the work this version may also boast the best overall team of soloists of any recording. The recording is first rate.
Sea Drift is an astonishing masterpiece. It grips you immediately. Hickox and Shirley-Quirk are both absolutely perfect. Hickox - possibly the greatest post-Beecham Delius conductor - has since re-recorded the work with Bryn Terfel and the critical opinion is that this second version is even more masterful. I find that hard to believe!
The Holst work is given a solid performance by Boult and team. It is inventive and attractive and fairly memorable. Some people consider it a towering masterpiece.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
My version of these CDs comes without Sea Drift, and I've not yet been thrilled by Holst's Hymn of Jesus, so this review is of Gerontius. I don't know exactly when it was recorded, but would guess at around 1970, in Decca's glory days - as far as sound quality goes, you don't need to worry.
It was surprising on the face of it that a composer interested in Gamelan and Shostakovich should record something by Elgar, but that was before I understood the work. "This is the best of me; for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved and hated, like another: my life was as the vapour and is not; but this I saw and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory." So wrote (or rather quoted) Elgar at the end of the manuscript, and with plenty of reason - this work takes the Elgar compositional style we all think of as a signature tune for the British Empire, and uses it to create a magical work. But you probably like the piece already, so on to the performance.
Any of the major British choruses and and international-class orchestra could probably have done about as good a job as the LSO and their Chorus, so I think we have to concentrate on the conductor and soloists. The distinctive sound of Peter Pears suits the role of Gerontius well for me, though there are probably some moments when others make a more beautiful sound. Yvonne Minton and John Shirley-Quirk were top-class singers of the day and both are well-suited here - in particular, I'm not left wondering whether Janet Baker does it better - maybe she does, but Minton does it plenty well enough. Britten's interpretation seems close to perfect - it must be very tempting to just wallow in moments like "softly and gently", but these are done without excessive sentimentality, letting the music speak for itself. And the Demon's Chorus is performed with plenty of swagger and volume.
It was surprising on the face of it that a composer interested in Gamelan and Shostakovich should record something by Elgar, but that was before I understood the work. "This is the best of me; for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved and hated, like another: my life was as the vapour and is not; but this I saw and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory." So wrote (or rather quoted) Elgar at the end of the manuscript, and with plenty of reason - this work takes the Elgar compositional style we all think of as a signature tune for the British Empire, and uses it to create a magical work. But you probably like the piece already, so on to the performance.
Any of the major British choruses and and international-class orchestra could probably have done about as good a job as the LSO and their Chorus, so I think we have to concentrate on the conductor and soloists. The distinctive sound of Peter Pears suits the role of Gerontius well for me, though there are probably some moments when others make a more beautiful sound. Yvonne Minton and John Shirley-Quirk were top-class singers of the day and both are well-suited here - in particular, I'm not left wondering whether Janet Baker does it better - maybe she does, but Minton does it plenty well enough. Britten's interpretation seems close to perfect - it must be very tempting to just wallow in moments like "softly and gently", but these are done without excessive sentimentality, letting the music speak for itself. And the Demon's Chorus is performed with plenty of swagger and volume.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By D. Martin
Format:Audio CD
I've loved this work and this recording for many years, having first owned it on vinyl. I agree with the other reviewers so won't repeat what they have written. I've also sung the work twice as a member of the chorus and semi- chorus. The recording brings out the contrast between the two parts of the choir well, something that it would be easy to miss. My only reservation is that at times the microphone appears to be too close to some of the men's section, bringing out individual voices. This is apparent especially in the two big numbers - the Devil' chorus and Praise to the Holiest - at the most frenetic points. Perhaps if you haven't been there in the choir trying to make it work (both choir and semi-chorus are in 8 parts at one point) you won't notice so much. For my part, noticing how exposed the first basses and tenors sound at one point I wonder: "Did I stand out like that?"
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4.7 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't buy this Gerontius for the sound!
There are many fine recordings of Gerontius but there is no point trying to compare this one with any of them.
Britten was famously cool about Elgar's music. Read more
Britten was famously cool about Elgar's music. Read more
Published 5 months ago by fraxinus
4.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding performance, poor editing
I have only technical reservations about these cds: there are some very abrupt endings to certain numbers in the score, especially on CD2, where the echo of final chords is not... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Glilla Bear
5.0 out of 5 stars
I missed a Prom .....
I was unfamiliar with Sea Drift and hoped to listen to it on the Proms but missed it. At under £4 for a used copy, I decided to buy. Read more
Published 9 months ago by WM
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