Heather Harper's account of Britten's marvellous Rimbaud settings on EMI Concert Classics is magnificent. The very first word of the text is ''I'' and in Harper's performance the presence of the poet—unstable, imperious—is firmly established from the very first note. Thereafter Harper and Marriner, with a splendidly alert Northern Sinfonia, balance the work's dream-like blend of drama and lyricism with great conviction, and it has been difficult to imagine another performance by a soprano coming near it, especially if it attempts the most sincere form of flattery.
What Jill Gomez and the Endymion Ensemble offer, wisely, could scarcely be more different. At first it seems a little decorous by comparison, but by the time the brief ''Phrase'' has been magically floated through its distant haze of string harmonics the character of the performance is clearly established, and is sustained from then on. It treats Les illuminations more as a chamber cantata than as a full-size concert work, and while not so sheerly exciting as the competition, it is a refreshing contrast, well worth having as a complement. Gomez's search for refinement occasionally leads her to smoothe out the French consonants too much—the first phrase of ''Being beauteous'', for example, on CD, in particular, the close, clear focus on the voice mercilessly magnifies the slightest linguistic lapse. But Gomez's lighter voice enables her to shape certain phrases more precisely than Harper, and all in all this performance sheds interesting new light on a work of genius.
So too does Felicity Palmer's Phaedra—''Faydra'', as she pronounces it, as distinct from Dame Janet Baker's ''Feedra''. The difference between the two interpretations is not so great as might initially be expected, for Baker's Decca version is no less urgently dramatic. Nevertheless, the sheer distinctiveness of the Baker voice does make specific dramatic characterization harder to achieve, and Palmer relishes the text's often melodramatic imagery the more vividly for the somewhat lighter tone-quality she brings to it. The CD sound is bright, the balance well judged. I needed to play the LP at an unusually high volume setting to get the best results, and even then the balance of voice and orchestra seemed less natural than on CD: the earlier LPs listed above both wear well in this respect. But this new EMI issue, with Felicity Palmer also admirable in the rarely-heard orchestral version of the Five French Folk-songs, provides fresh food for thought on the whole fascinating topic of Britten interpretation.'