Britten Orchestral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Benjamin Britten, Henry Purcell
Label: Red Seal
Magazine Review Date: 3/1994
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 68
Mastering:
ADD
Catalogue Number: 09026 61226-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Sinfonia da Requiem |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer Leonard Slatkin, Conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra |
| (4) Sea Interludes |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer Leonard Slatkin, Conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra |
| Passacaglia |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer Leonard Slatkin, Conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra |
| (The) Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer Leonard Slatkin, Conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra |
| Chaconne for Strings |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Henry Purcell, Composer Leonard Slatkin, Conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra |
Composer or Director: Benjamin Britten
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 3/1994
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 67
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CHAN9221
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (4) Sea Interludes |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Richard Hickox, Conductor |
| Johnson over Jordan |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Richard Hickox, Conductor |
| (The) Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Richard Hickox, Conductor |
| Suite on English Folk Tunes, 'A time there was...' |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Richard Hickox, Conductor |
Author: Andrew Achenbach
I haven't enjoyed Britten's endlessly resourceful Young Person's Guide so much in ages. Both Slatkin and Hickox turn in strikingly alert, fresh-faced readings, though for me, the most telling moment in either performance comes in the cello-led Var. G (track 13 on the assiduously indexed Chandos CD) where Hickox coaxes some exquisitely intimate playing from his Bournemouth section. In the giddy final fugue, it is Slatkin's LPO who display marginally greater virtuosity, yet conversely (and more crucially, I think) it is Hickox who generates the more palpable cumulative intensity. If, ultimately, I gravitate slightly towards the latter, it is simply because I register marginally more sense of sheer fun in his account. But both are first-rate and excitingly well engineered too, with Slatkin's Walthamstow Town Hall production having the edge in terms of detail and bite. Incidentally, the booklet gives a recording date of August 1989 for this item: why on earth have RCA been sitting on the mastertape for so long?
When it comes to the Grimes Interludes, Slatkin and Hickox could hardly view the music more differently. The American concentrates on meticulous refinement, with radiantly airy textures throughout: the results are more coolly detached than we are used to hearing and often strikingly beautiful, but the comparative lack of physical impact in the ''Storm'', though entirely consistent with Slatkin's almost balletic approach, will not be to all tastes. Not surprisingly, Hickox's is a more 'traditional' presentation, though that is not to imply any lack of sensitivity or freshness. As the very opening of ''Dawn'' reveals, Hickox adopts a more tenderly expressive manner than Slatkin (the Bournemouth strings responding with appealing fervour and involvement), and there's no gainsaying the greater elemental fury of Hickox's ''Storm''; however, his two middle tableaux are perhaps rather less memorable. Overall, Slatkin's account remains the more eventful; what's more, the American offers a notable bonus in the shape of a lucid and (once again) strikingly refined account of the ''Passacaglia'' from the same opera.
Brittenites will find much to savour in the remainder of both concerts. Hickox enterprisingly opts to give us Paul Hindmarsh's enjoyable suite compiled from the incidental music for J. B. Priestley's 1939 morality play, Johnson over Jordan. Suffice to say, Hickox's account of this entertaining confection fully matches the standards of Steuart Bedford's admirable ECO world-premiere recording from a couple of years back. Even more welcome is the Suite on English Folk Tunes, Britten's final orchestral work, full of the most bracing invention and intensely poignant to boot. The vigour, snap and discipline of this Bournemouth performance are utterly commendable; equally, Hickox sees to it that the wistful concluding ''Lord Melbourne'' touches to the very marrow, though on record to date only Leonard Bernstein (on his remarkable 1976 NYPO recording) has fully tapped the essence of very real melancholy which courses through this music.
So what is left on the RCA collection? Well, there's a most eloquent, beautifully poised rendering of the Purcell Chaconne—Britten's loving realization can rarely have sounded more beguiling. But the major attraction here is the Sinfonia da Requiem. This could hardly start more promisingly, with fearsome ff timpani blows and balefully growling tuba. Again, what immediately impresses is the focus and sheen of the orchestral playing, but there's a price to pay, perhaps, in the shape of some lack of emotional thrust. It's the Dies irae centrepiece which bears this observation out most clearly: the demons certainly don't scamper quite as malevolently as they do on the composer's own 1964 Decca recording (which still, by the way, sounds absolutely stunning three decades on!); and from fig. 30 (3'13'') onwards, for all the superior co-ordination of the LPO, it is Britten and the New Philharmonia who more tangibly communicate the sense of mounting desperation and crisis in these bars. Of course, this movement's shattering disintegration is as hair-raising as ever, and in the concluding ''Requiem aeternam'' Slatkin transmits a soothing, consolatory glow that many will find deeply moving.
In sum, two superior, finely engineered additions to the Britten discography; indeed, I can't imagine the majority of collectors will find much to disappoint them here.'
When it comes to the Grimes Interludes, Slatkin and Hickox could hardly view the music more differently. The American concentrates on meticulous refinement, with radiantly airy textures throughout: the results are more coolly detached than we are used to hearing and often strikingly beautiful, but the comparative lack of physical impact in the ''Storm'', though entirely consistent with Slatkin's almost balletic approach, will not be to all tastes. Not surprisingly, Hickox's is a more 'traditional' presentation, though that is not to imply any lack of sensitivity or freshness. As the very opening of ''Dawn'' reveals, Hickox adopts a more tenderly expressive manner than Slatkin (the Bournemouth strings responding with appealing fervour and involvement), and there's no gainsaying the greater elemental fury of Hickox's ''Storm''; however, his two middle tableaux are perhaps rather less memorable. Overall, Slatkin's account remains the more eventful; what's more, the American offers a notable bonus in the shape of a lucid and (once again) strikingly refined account of the ''Passacaglia'' from the same opera.
Brittenites will find much to savour in the remainder of both concerts. Hickox enterprisingly opts to give us Paul Hindmarsh's enjoyable suite compiled from the incidental music for J. B. Priestley's 1939 morality play, Johnson over Jordan. Suffice to say, Hickox's account of this entertaining confection fully matches the standards of Steuart Bedford's admirable ECO world-premiere recording from a couple of years back. Even more welcome is the Suite on English Folk Tunes, Britten's final orchestral work, full of the most bracing invention and intensely poignant to boot. The vigour, snap and discipline of this Bournemouth performance are utterly commendable; equally, Hickox sees to it that the wistful concluding ''Lord Melbourne'' touches to the very marrow, though on record to date only Leonard Bernstein (on his remarkable 1976 NYPO recording) has fully tapped the essence of very real melancholy which courses through this music.
So what is left on the RCA collection? Well, there's a most eloquent, beautifully poised rendering of the Purcell Chaconne—Britten's loving realization can rarely have sounded more beguiling. But the major attraction here is the Sinfonia da Requiem. This could hardly start more promisingly, with fearsome ff timpani blows and balefully growling tuba. Again, what immediately impresses is the focus and sheen of the orchestral playing, but there's a price to pay, perhaps, in the shape of some lack of emotional thrust. It's the Dies irae centrepiece which bears this observation out most clearly: the demons certainly don't scamper quite as malevolently as they do on the composer's own 1964 Decca recording (which still, by the way, sounds absolutely stunning three decades on!); and from fig. 30 (3'13'') onwards, for all the superior co-ordination of the LPO, it is Britten and the New Philharmonia who more tangibly communicate the sense of mounting desperation and crisis in these bars. Of course, this movement's shattering disintegration is as hair-raising as ever, and in the concluding ''Requiem aeternam'' Slatkin transmits a soothing, consolatory glow that many will find deeply moving.
In sum, two superior, finely engineered additions to the Britten discography; indeed, I can't imagine the majority of collectors will find much to disappoint them here.'
Britten Orchestral Works
Britten Orchestral Works
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