Uncategorised
CD and Other Review

Review: Britten Songs (Bostridge)

Ian Bostridge may well be the busiest interpreter of Benjamin Britten in this the composer’s 100th birthday year. Previous recordings of Our Hunting Fathers and the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings have demonstrated the English tenor’s sensitive characterisation of text, but this latest collection of song cycles, written for Britten’s partner and muse Peter Pears, is Bostridge’s finest and most compelling offering yet. A big part of that is Antonio Pappano’s accompaniment. The duo collaborated on a Schubert album, but the eccentricities of Britten’s piano writing – all angular figurations and chiaroscuro effects he put into play himself – allow his imagination, and fingers, to run wild, whether bright and brilliant or sparse and eerie. Both performers vary their touch and articulation judiciously for a disc that is alive at every moment, leaving you hanging off every word. Listen to the way Bostridge leans into dissonance, gouging the text of Before Life and After from the late cycle Winter Words. Or the cat-and-mouse runs passed between singer and pianist in the nursery rhyme-like Wagtail and Baby. Bostridge’s intonation and enunciation are faultless but never characterless; I particularly relish how he shapes drawn-out melismas such as the sweet-toned “Seraphim”. His……

November 7, 2013
Uncategorised
CD and Other Review

Review: Britten: Death in Venice (Gard, Shirley-Quirk, Bowman)

Late Britten can be obscure and less approachable than earlier masterpieces like Peter Grimes and Albert Herring. Written for a small, spare ensemble, the music supports the story well enough, without falling into the successful opera trap of being emotionally involving. One admires rather than loves the music. Tony Palmer’s fine film of Britten’s last opera was made at the instigation of the tenor, Peter Pears, Britten’s long-time partner. Pears was too frail to play the part which Britten had written for him, and Australian tenor, Robert Gard, was gifted with the role of the jaded Aschenbach, which he accomplished superbly. Gard, now retired, had long been noted for his superb diction and deep musicality, making him an ideal successor to the tradition established by Pears. I have no hesitation in saying that I prefer Gard’s singing to that of Pears himself, whose vocal mannerisms from mid-career often reduced his artistry to vocal prissiness. Palmer has allowed his imagination to run free in many respects claiming the opera for the screen. In works of the mind, film is able to evoke more images and deal with illusions more successfully than can be accomplished on a stage. The opera is virtually…

September 5, 2013
Classical Music
news

The Battle to re-discover Britten

A Britten score, believed to be long lost, surfaces after years in an American warehouse. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

September 2, 2013