Britten Rarities | Australian Eloquence ELQ4802296

Britten Rarities

Label: Australian Eloquence

Cat No: ELQ4802296

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Vocal/Choral

Release Date: 16th July 2012

Contents

Works

Britten, Benjamin

A Boy was Born, op.3
» V Corpus Christi Carol
A Charm of Lullabies, op.41
A Midsummer Night's Dream, op.64
» Bottom's Dream
Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac, op.51
Friday Afternoons, op.7
» A New Year carol
» Cuckoo!
» Fishing song
» I must be married on Sunday
» There was a monkey
The Birds
The Sword in the Stone
Voices for today, op.75

Purcell, Henry

Don Quixote, Z578
» From rosy bowers
Oedipus, Z583
» Music for a while

Artists

Michael Berkeley (treble)
John Hahessy (boy alto)
Norma Procter (contralto)
Peter Pears (tenor)
Benjamin Britten (piano)
Geraint Evans (baritone)
Terence Hanbury White (narrator)
Pamela Bowden (contralto)
Peter Gellhorn (piano)
Cambridge University Musical Society Chorus
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

Conductors

Benjamin Britten
David Willcocks
Walter Goehr
Bryan Balkwill

Works

Britten, Benjamin

A Boy was Born, op.3
» V Corpus Christi Carol
A Charm of Lullabies, op.41
A Midsummer Night's Dream, op.64
» Bottom's Dream
Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac, op.51
Friday Afternoons, op.7
» A New Year carol
» Cuckoo!
» Fishing song
» I must be married on Sunday
» There was a monkey
The Birds
The Sword in the Stone
Voices for today, op.75

Purcell, Henry

Don Quixote, Z578
» From rosy bowers
Oedipus, Z583
» Music for a while

Artists

Michael Berkeley (treble)
John Hahessy (boy alto)
Norma Procter (contralto)
Peter Pears (tenor)
Benjamin Britten (piano)
Geraint Evans (baritone)
Terence Hanbury White (narrator)
Pamela Bowden (contralto)
Peter Gellhorn (piano)
Cambridge University Musical Society Chorus
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

Conductors

Benjamin Britten
David Willcocks
Walter Goehr
Bryan Balkwill

About

This collection brings together rarities and surprises from the Decca/Argo Britten discography, a collection notable as much for the infrequency with which much of this music is performed as it is for the fact that many of these are world-premiere recordings of Britten’s music. The source material itself is extremely rare and virtually every recording represented here is, in its LP/EP format, a collector’s item, largely from the Argo catalogue.

The all-vocal program opens with Voices for Today which Britten wrote to mark the 20th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. His devotion to excellent music for children is represented by a collection of songs, including five from Friday Afternoons sung by the boy alto John Hahessy. It was Hahessy who was chosen over Norma Procter to sing the alto part in Britten’s Canticle II ‘Abraham and Isaac’. The earlier Procter/Pears/Britten version, recorded in 1957 but not released at the time in favour of the Hahessy recording is included on this collection.

In later years, it was perhaps inevitable that other British singers would be compared with those who created and inspired Britten’s work, notably Ferrier, particularly after her early death. Pamela Bowden was one of those singers: she studied with Ferrier’s teacher, Roy Henderson, in London, and was hailed as the singer’s successor. She is represented by A Charm of Lullabies and it seemed sensible to include the remainder of the music on her original EP – two songs by Purcell – as bonus tracks for this release.

A rare spoken-word appearance is made by author (and speaker) T H White, who reads an extract from his book The Sword in the Stone to an accompaniment of Britten’s music.

‘John Hahessy has a splendid strong tone, almost brassy in forte, and a blessedly unaffected style: none of those cautious hoots and beautifully modulated vowels that are the bane of the English choirboy tradition. What is more he evidently has a real natural musicality, to judge by his moulding of phrases throughout this disc.’ - Gramophone [Friday Afternoons, etc.]

admirably read by the author, with a delightful mixture of sardonic humour and delicate description. The atmosphere is heightened by the music of Benjamin Britten, which brilliantly sharpens the word-pictures. […] It is all charming and will give great pleasure to young and old, for its story and the way it is told and for Britten's delicate score.' - Gramophone [The Sword in the Stone]

Britten's songs were written in 1947 for Nancy Evans, and it might be thought that they need rather more mezzo than contralto tone. But Miss Bowden sings them with no apparent strain, and her characterisation of each one is [very] successful … Her voice is not yet as opulent as Kathleen Ferrier's, but her dramatic sense is possibly more developed.’ - Gramophone [A Charm of Lullabies, Purcell]

Contents:
Benjamin Britten
- Voices for Today, op.75 (first release on CD)                   
Cambridge University Musical Society Chorus / Benjamin Britten
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge / Sir David Willcocks

- Songs from Friday Afternoons, op.7 (first release on CD)                   
- The Birds (first release on CD)                       
- Corpus Christi Carol (first release on CD)                       
John Hahessy (boy alto), Benjamin Britten (piano)       

- Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac, op.51       
Norma Procter (contralto), Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)       

- A Charm of Lullabies, op.41 (first release on CD)                       
Pamela Bowden (contralto), Peter Gellhorn (piano)

- Bottom’s Dream (from A Midsummer Night’s Dream)   
Sir Geraint Evans (baritone)
L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Bryan Balkwill

- The Sword in the Stone (first release on CD)                       
Terence Hanbury White (narrator)
Orchestra conducted by Walter Goehr

Bonus Tracks (first release on CD):
Henry Purcell
- Music for a while (arr. Tippett)               
- From rosy bowers   
Pamela Bowden (contralto), Peter Gellhorn (piano)

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