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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A performance to treasure, 10 Jan 2004
First, not "FROM Brazil" but "IN Brazil"! I was born on the same wild East Anglian coast as BB, educated at the same school as BB, had some of the same teachers as BB, HOWEVER (and alas) I have never felt the same attraction for his music as I do for Tippett, Walton, Rawsthorne, Bartok, Lutoslawski, Messiaen, Ives or Ligetti. I have tried and tried to like Peter Grimes, Burning Fiery Furnace and the War Requiem, but unhappily all I hear is the Britten who hid his true self behind a snobbish mask of respectabilty. For me, eighty percent of BB's music is "dead behind the eyes". And yet, the moment BB sits down at the piano, magic happens. His recordings of Mozart concertos and of duets with Richter are divine music making.You will never hear the piano parts of Schubert's songs spring to such life as in BB's performances. Just listen to the modulation from minor to major in the first song of Winterreise, even after a hundred hearings, it gives me goose pimples. BB's playing just carries the story forward. Each song is characterised to perfection.I don't care if on occasions Pears goes into that twangy "english" nasal sound.(If PP had the richness of voice of Dieskau, that would be heaven on earth). Nevertheless his phrasing and variation in tone take you along Schubert's journey whether you understand German or not. Here are two GREAT musicians of the 20th Century performing one of great works of the 19th Century. Soon after the original recording was released, a friend who had both this Pears/Britten and the Dieskau/Moore version offered me one as a birthday present. I listened and listened to them both. But in the end there was no question. I chose the BB/PP version. Why? Because you won't hear music making like that more than once or twice in a lifetime. Pears and Britten were outstanding musicians. If you love Schubert, then their recordings of Schone Mullerin and Winterreise must be in your collection.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The most profound recording of this work, 7 Dec 2002
By A Customer
I find this recording a most profound musical and emotional experience. There is a feeling of unity between the performers and Schubert which I haven't found in other versions. I think it helps that neither performer is very young - Pears wisely did not attempt to sing Winterreise until he was fifty.Britten's piano playing has his own unique subtleties, and with Pears you have the feeling of deep knowledge and experience behind every note. His treatment of the words is, as in everything he did, beyond praise. If Pavarotti is your idea of a tenor, you will not be able to appreciate this recording. If you want to hear the music, however, this is the one to buy.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A rare insight, 3 Nov 2008
I was interested to read the "organ grinding" review. Strange comments, because I found Britten's playing a revelation, in spite of some - to my ears - odd choices of tempo. But there is terrific use of rubato and a rhythmic freedom and attention to detail that is frustratingly absent from so many recordings of this work. I also found that Britten offered insights into certain passages and even whole songs that were wholly new to me.
Not all of this recording convinced me, but I wouldn't expect it to. Fischer-Dieskau observed that even the greatest artists will never get much beyond halfway to the heart of this great work, and that compromises are an inevitability. Pears has his critics, and his voice is not to every taste. But his musicianship and integrity - in the best sense of that difficult word - make this recording refreshing, emotionally charged and intellectually rewarding. Being on very familiar terms with a dozen or so 'rival recordings', from Martti Talvela's to Christoph Pregardien's, there are, for me, moments in the Pears/Britten recording that top them all for musical insight and artistic revelation.
I found Britten's playing inspirational, and Pears' thoughtful and penetrating interpretation of the texts more than compensates for any perceived weaknesses in the voice. After all, Tebaldi was demonstrably the greater singer than Callas, but as an interpretative artist, not in the same room. Bostridge has a prettier and more recordable voice than Pears, but I doubt he will or could ever approach the level of Pears' artistry in this repertoire. Pears really does deserve more credit than is sometimes his lot.
So this would probably not be the ideal sole recording of Winterreise in a collection; but it deserves to be in the hands (and heads) of anyone with more than a passing interest in the German Lied.
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