Britten Noye's Fludde
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Benjamin Britten
Genre:
Opera
Label: Classics
Magazine Review Date: 1/1991
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 791129-4
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Noye's Fludde |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Alan Harwood, Organ Alexander Gallifant, Sem, Treble/boy soprano Benjamin Britten, Composer Catriona Johnson, Mrs Sem, Soprano Chester School Choir Chester School Orchestra Coull Qt Donald Maxwell, Noye, Bass Endymion Ensemble Ian Watson, Piano Joanna Brown, Mrs Jaffett, Soprano John Alley, Piano Linda Ormiston, Mrs Noye, Mezzo soprano Nicholas Berry, Jaffett, Treble/boy soprano Polly Hewetson, Mrs Ham, Soprano Richard Hickox, Conductor Richard Pasco, Voice of God, Speaker Salisbury School Choir Salisbury School Orchestra Timothy Lamb, Ham, Treble/boy soprano |
| Serenade |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Adolph Green, Beekman; Ringmaster, Singer Benjamin Britten, Composer City of London Sinfonia Frank Lloyd, Horn John Reardon, Randy Curtis, Singer Kenneth Bridges, Charley Johnson, Singer Lucia Popp, Woglinde, Soprano Lucia Popp, Woglinde, Soprano Lucia Popp, Woglinde, Soprano Martyn Hill, Tenor Matti Salminen, Fafner, Bass Matti Salminen, Fafner, Bass Matti Salminen, Fafner, Bass Ortrun Wenkel, Erda, Contralto (Female alto) Ortrun Wenkel, Erda, Mezzo soprano Ortrun Wenkel, Erda, Mezzo soprano Richard Hickox, Conductor Risë Stevens, Liza Elliott, Singer Roland Bracht, Fasolt, Bass Stephanie Augustine, Sutton, Singer |
Composer or Director: Benjamin Britten
Genre:
Opera
Label: Classics
Magazine Review Date: 1/1991
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 72
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 791129-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Noye's Fludde |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Alan Harwood, Organ Alexander Gallifant, Sem, Treble/boy soprano Benjamin Britten, Composer Catriona Johnson, Mrs Sem, Soprano Chester School Choir Chester School Orchestra Coull Qt Donald Maxwell, Noye, Bass Endymion Ensemble Ian Watson, Piano Joanna Brown, Mrs Jaffett, Soprano John Alley, Piano Linda Ormiston, Mrs Noye, Mezzo soprano Nicholas Berry, Jaffett, Treble/boy soprano Polly Hewetson, Mrs Ham, Soprano Richard Hickox, Conductor Richard Pasco, Voice of God, Speaker Salisbury School Choir Salisbury School Orchestra Timothy Lamb, Ham, Treble/boy soprano |
| Serenade |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Adolph Green, Beekman; Ringmaster, Singer Benjamin Britten, Composer City of London Sinfonia Frank Lloyd, Horn John Reardon, Randy Curtis, Singer Kenneth Bridges, Charley Johnson, Singer Martyn Hill, Tenor Richard Hickox, Conductor Risë Stevens, Liza Elliott, Singer Roger White, Kendall Nesbitt, Singer Stephanie Augustine, Sutton, Singer |
Author: Michael Oliver
Not the least pleasure of Noye's Fludde is its comprehensiveness. There are passages in which the small group of professionals that the score calls for are required to play very beautifully indeed, and others in which Britten encourages the local bugle band, even if some of them can safely manage only four or five notes, to make the roof rattle with uplifting din; the more expert child singers are given characterful and taxing lines, but there's enjoyable work to be done as well as for those who just want to be in the show and yell the place down. In a smallish community absolutely everyone could take part, and the ingenuity with which Britten writes for a wide range of skills (including those that have to be acquired for the occasion: who could arrive for a first rehearsal of Noye's Fludde boasting of their Associated Board Grade VI in teacup-playing?) is one reason for the work's satisfying richness.
It's the element of raucous vociferation that I miss in this finely prepared and executed reading. It is all a little kempt and shevelled, without an occasional untrained voice protruding from the choral textures in the way that presumably had Britten's approval when the 1961 Del Mar/Decca recording was made in his presence. The buglers play with almost too much discipline, among the children there's not a raw wolf-voice to be heard. You might well be prepared to trade raucousness for precision and careful balance, and so might I, but an element of gentility seems to have got into the principals' performances as well. It is something to do with vocal weight—Ormiston a lightish mezzo and Maxwell a baritone in roles for which the score demands contralto and bassbaritone. But neither projects as much earthiness or humour as Del Mar's Sheila Rex or, especially, that wonderfully human artist Owen Brannigan. Pasco, too, though finely expressive, is a bit light-voiced for God's thunderous utterances.
All this having been said, it's an enjoyable reading, with a good sense of movement and space, and its coupling strikes me as the best recording of the Serenade since Sir Peter Pears. I don't recall Hill's voice being more successfully caught by the microphone before, and his splendidly managed crescendo in the ''Dirge'' from an almost crooned mezza voce, the lovely subtlety of the middle verse of his ''Nocturne'' and his fleet virtuosity in the ''Hymn'' are backed by horn and string playing of comparable delicacy and brilliance. But for an account ofNoye's Fludde that has you singing along, so great is the sense of involvement in a real community performance, I would still return to Del Mar's.'
It's the element of raucous vociferation that I miss in this finely prepared and executed reading. It is all a little kempt and shevelled, without an occasional untrained voice protruding from the choral textures in the way that presumably had Britten's approval when the 1961 Del Mar/Decca recording was made in his presence. The buglers play with almost too much discipline, among the children there's not a raw wolf-voice to be heard. You might well be prepared to trade raucousness for precision and careful balance, and so might I, but an element of gentility seems to have got into the principals' performances as well. It is something to do with vocal weight—Ormiston a lightish mezzo and Maxwell a baritone in roles for which the score demands contralto and bassbaritone. But neither projects as much earthiness or humour as Del Mar's Sheila Rex or, especially, that wonderfully human artist Owen Brannigan. Pasco, too, though finely expressive, is a bit light-voiced for God's thunderous utterances.
All this having been said, it's an enjoyable reading, with a good sense of movement and space, and its coupling strikes me as the best recording of the Serenade since Sir Peter Pears. I don't recall Hill's voice being more successfully caught by the microphone before, and his splendidly managed crescendo in the ''Dirge'' from an almost crooned mezza voce, the lovely subtlety of the middle verse of his ''Nocturne'' and his fleet virtuosity in the ''Hymn'' are backed by horn and string playing of comparable delicacy and brilliance. But for an account of
Britten Noye's Fludde
Britten Noye's Fludde
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