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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
A distinguished and consistently absorbing Britten anthology spanning his entire creative career, from the jaw-droppingly confident Quatre chansons francaises (the work, remember, of a 14-year-old schoolboy) to Colin Matthews' sensitive performing version of the sketches for Praise We Great Men (a setting of a poem by Edith Sitwell, upon which the composer was working at the time of his death in December 1976). The pacifist cantata Ballad of Heroes dates from March 1939 and, two months later, Britten embarked for North America, where, over the next three years, he produced a succession of giddily inventive scores, culminating in the brilliant Diversions for left-hand piano and orchestra (fabulously dispatched here by Peter Donohoe) and shattering Sinfonia da Requiem (of which Rattle and the CBSO give a belter of a performance). Jumping forward more than a quarter of a century brings us to the bustling overture The Building of the House (written to commemorate the 1967 opening of the Snape Maltings concert hall), and we also get Britten's very last orchestral offering, the wonderfully poignant 1974 Suite on English Folk Tunes: "A time there was...". Now retailing at lower mid-price, this set is more desirable than ever. So, if you hesitated first time round, you've no excuse now. --Andrew Achenbach
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the great bargains of our time!,
By
This review is from: Rattle conducts Britten: American Overture, Scottish Ballad (Audio CD)
This 2 CD set contains a pretty diffuse lot of early and late (and generally unrelated) pieces by Britten and that may at first sight seem offputting, but don't be deterred. This is as compelling a set at the price as you are likely to find, provided you are at all attuned to Britten's idiom. There are stunning performances of the Sinfonia da Requiem (which he wrote on commission for an anniversary of the Japanese empire, but which in truth is a work dedicated to his parents, who had recently died), the Diversions for piano (left hand) and orchestra, and a quite amazing work that he wrote when only 14, the 4 Chansons Francaises, sung beautifully by Jill Gomez. Almost everything on the 2 CDs is worth repeated listening, even the pieces that were dug up from the early archives, such as the Canadian Carnival, with its strange reference to "Alouette" near the end. For anyone who hasn't heard the Suite on English Folk Tunes, the last section "Lord Melbourne" is an absolute must-listen, heart-breakingly beautiful, even if the other items in the Suite are not quite so forthcoming. Somehow that last piece, which is one of the last things he wrote, now sounds totally at one (and yet has Britten's own special overlay) with the best of all the earlier English composers of the century. On the basis of the current reissue, with 2 discs for less than the price of one newly released one, this is a terrific bargain and not to be missed by anyone with any sympathy for this repertoire (and if you don't have such sympathy, you should buy it anyway - it might change your mind!).Retiefus
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A real gold mine,
By
This review is from: Rattle conducts Britten: American Overture, Scottish Ballad (Audio CD)
So you think you have heard it all? That you are familiar with the work of Benjamin Britten? Well, listen to these to CDs giving you Sir Simon's personal version of works you have probably never heard performed before plus some you probably know by heart and let yourself be carried away by the Birmingham Sympony Orchestra in a series of peak performances. The music itself is like all of Britten: fun, heart rendering, tragic, melodious, dissonant, original. A great collection, part of EMI's seminal series of English composers.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting compilation,
By PhilC "mario, mario, mario" (Walthamstow) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rattle conducts Britten: American Overture, Scottish Ballad (Audio CD)
As a singer I've tended to focus on Britten's vocal music, so it's great to have some of the orchestral, and particularly earlier pieces. Rattle took over the CBSO from Louis Fremaux who had never hit the big time with them but had nevertheless moulded them into a first class orchestra; under Rattle they gained the international status exemplified here.
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