BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Birth 1913 in Lowestoft
English composer,pianist ,and conductor.He was the outstanding British musician of his generation both as creator and an executant,for his brilliance as a pianist and as an interpreter of his own and other composerrs' music would have ensured him a major career even if he had not been so great a composer.
Britten was the youngest of four children of a dentist and his musical wife.He was taught the piano from the age of five and began to compose at the same age.At ten he began viola lessons A major childhood event was a visit to the 1924 Norwich Festival when he was 'knocked sideways' by hearing Frank Bridge conduct his suite 'The Sea'.At the same festival three years later Bridge's'Enter Spring' made a similar impression on the boy,who then became his pupil,learning from him the elements of composition.After his public school Britten entered
the RCM in 1930 where he found the teaching and general conservative atmosphere uncongenial.
Britten's first large-scale work was the symphonic cycle for voice and orchestra,'Our Hunting Fathers',to a text compiled by the poet Auden.At its first performance,at the 1936 Norwich Festival,the audience was scandalized both by the audacity of the harmonies anv vocal writing and by the verbal sitire,whichsavagely indicted the hunting and shooting of animals.Warmer acclaim greeted the 'Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge'in which
Britten combined his talent for parody with a deeper vain owing something to Mahler's influence.His extraordinary sensitivity to instrumental timbres was also apparent in his Piano Concerto(1938).
After a second string quartet in (1945),opera occupied his attention.'The Rape of Lucretia'(1946) and 'Albert Herring'(1947) were produced at Glynderbourne and led to the formation of the English Opera Group.Having settled at Aldeburgh in (1947),Britten and Pears,with others,founded a festival there in 1948.
Britten reached his wider audience when his 'War Requiem'was performed during celebrations to mark the dedication of the new Coventry Cathedral in 1962.In this large-scale choral work,combining the LatinMass with war poems by Wilfred Owen,Britten's pacifism found its most public and eloquent outlet.
In 1973 he underwent an operation,not wholly successful,to replace a heart valve.For the last three years of his life Britten was an invalid,able to work for only short periods of each day and no longer able to play the piano.Yet he revised some earlier compositions and composed several vocal works,the orchestral'Suite on English Folk Tunes'(1947),and the Third String Quartet(1975).In 1976,six months before his death,he was created a life peer.In 1953 he had been made Companion of Honour and in 1965 a member of the Order of Merit..
John Piper's Benjamin Britten memorial window in the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Aldeburgh
* Costas Papageorgiou
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR9nDnyIhAU&feature=sharehttp://youtu.be/-6esm67yWpA
* Loussy Pen
Symphony for Cello and Orchestra I
http://youtu.be/kSNmkKcsd9I
http://youtu.be/9KVYoOGBFqQ
* Chris Panagopoulos
Pears & Britten - Die Schone Mullerin - n.2 Wohin?
http://youtu.be/5jiBYmAOh3U
* De Profundis Ya
Benjamin Britten speaks.
http://youtu.be/e3qHoJz9zjA
Sviatoslav Richter:Benjamin Britten Piano Concerto In D 1st mvt. - Cadenza
http://youtu.be/GN6XCbu7Sj8
http://youtu.be/7NlpG8hJa4Y
Julian Bream - B Britten Nocturnal - Passacaglia
http://youtu.be/SJETmCQI2fA
Benjamin Britten - Flower Songs, Op. 47
The first of the Five Flower Songs is based on poetry by Robert
Herrick. "To Daffodils" compares the life, death, and decay of daffodils
to the similar human experiences. This song is written in two-part
form. In the first section, Britten divides the chorus into two groups.
The sopranos and basses begin the song, and the altos and tenors enter a
measure later, musically imitating. A triplet figure is prevalent here.
The chorus is redivided in the second section with the sopranos, altos,
and tenors presenting the melody while the basses provide the
accompaniment, restating the triplet figure.Britten chose to base the second song on another work by Herrick. "The Succession of Four Sweet Months" is about the months of April, May, June, and July. According to the speaker, each month is more beautiful than the last and July is the greatest month of the year. "Marsh Flowers" is the third song, based on a poem by George Crabbe. A flower and its swamp environment are the subjects of the poem. This song has many interesting voice combinations and imitations. The fourth song is based on a John Clare poem, "The Evening Primrose." The song is a tranquil setting of this description of a pale rose that blooms only at night. The final song, "Ballad of Green Broom," is an anonymous poem. The story is of a broom maker and his lazy son. The father forces his son to take up the trade, then the boy weds and grows to become a respected broom maker. The accompaniment of this song conveys an image of metered woodcutting. ~ All Music Guide .
http://youtu.be/EvnFsf52XFU
War Requiem - Libera me Pt. 2-3
Libera me (soprano solo and chorus)
Strange Meeting ("It seems that out of battle I escaped") (tenor and baritone soli)
In paradisum (All)
Conclusion -Requiem Aeternam and Requiescat in Pace (Organ, Boys` choir and Mixed Chorus)
Part 2:
Tenor:
It seemed that out of battle I escaped
Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped
Through granites which titanic wars had groined.
Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,
Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred.
Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, and stared
With piteous recognition in fixed eyes,
Lifting distressful hands as if to bless.
And no guns thumped, or down the flues made moan.
"Strange friend," I said, "here is no cause to mourn."
Baritone:
"None", said the other, "save the undone years,
The hopelessness. Whatever hope is yours,
Was my life also; I went hunting wild
After the wildest beauty in the world,
For by my glee might many men have laughed,
And of my weeping something had been left,
Which must die now. I mean the truth untold,
The pity of war, the pity war distilled.
Now men will go content with what we spoiled.
Or, discontent, boil bloody, and be spilled.
They will be swift with swiftness of the tigress,
None will break ranks, though nations trek from progress.
Miss we the march of this retreating world
Into vain citadels that are not walled.
Then, when much blood had clogged their chariot-wheels
I would go up and wash them from sweet wells,
Even from wells we sunk too deep for war,
Even the sweetest wells that ever were.
I am the enemy you killed, my friend.
I knew you in this dark; for so you frowned
Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed.
I parried; but my hands were loath and cold.
Peter Pears (tenor)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone)
Melos Ensemble
London Symphony Orchestra
Benjamin Britten con .
http://youtu.be/O06a7sspY3c
- War Requiem - Libera me Pt. 3-3
Libera me (soprano solo and chorus)
Strange Meeting ("It seems that out of battle I escaped") (tenor and baritone soli)
In paradisum (All)
Conclusion -Requiem Aeternam and Requiescat in Pace (Organ, Boys` choir and Mixed Chorus)
Tenor and Baritone:
Let us sleep now..."
Boys, then Chorus, then Soprano:
In paridisum deducant te Angeli;
in tuo adventu suscipiant te Martyres,
et perducant te in civitatem sanctam
Jerusalem. Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat,
et cum Lazaro quondam paupere aeternam
habeas requiem.
Boys, then Chorus, then Soprano:
Into Paradise may the Angels lead thee:
at thy coming may the Martyrs receive thee,
and bring thee into the holy city
Jerusalem. May the Choir of Angels receive thee
and with Lazarus, once poor,
may thou have eternal rest.
Boys:
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine:
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Boys:
Lord, grant them eternal rest,
and let the perpetual light shine upon them.
Chorus:
In paradisum deducant etc.
Chorus:
Into Paradise, etc.
Soprano:
Chorus Angeloru, te suscipiat etc.
Soprano:
May the Choir of Angels, etc.
Tenor and Baritone:
Let us sleep now.
Chorus:
Requiescant in pace. Amen.
Chorus
Let them rest in peace. Amen. .
http://youtu.be/d55wp3F_yQ8
*Christos Sipsis
"Composing is like driving down a foggy road toward a house. Slowly
you see more details of the house-the color of the slates and bricks,
the shape of the windows. The notes are the bricks and the mortar of the
house."B Britten
t is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness & of pain: of strength & freedom. The beauty of disappointment & never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature, & everlasting beauty of monotony.
Benjamin Britten
Britten-Six metamorphoses, Op.49
http://youtu.be/P5Dp064QDbs
Derek Jarman -" War Requiem " (1989)
Κινηματογραφική απόδοση του ρέκβιεμ του Benjamin Britten με τον Laurence Olivier.
http://youtu.be/w8chrJonVOE
War Requiem Rostropovich Requiem aeternam
The War Requiem was commissioned for the reconsecration of Coventry Cathedral on May 30, 1962 after the original fourteenth century structure was destroyed in a World War II bombing raid on the night of November 14, 1940. As a pacifist, Britten was inspired by the commission, which gave him complete freedom in choosing the type of music he would like to compose. He conceived of setting the traditional Latin Mass for the Dead interwoven with nine poems about war by the English poet Wilfred Owen. Owen, who was born in 1893, was serving as the commander of a rifle company when he was killed in action on 4 November 1918 during the crossing of the Sambre-Oise Canal in France, just one week before the Armistice. Although he was virtually unknown at the time of his death, he has subsequently come to be revered as one of the great war poets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Requiem
http://youtu.be/hhkbphH8_Ic
War Requiem Rostropovich Sanctus Kasrashvili
http://youtu.be/r7TmbIRJ0R0
* Tanja Pavlovic
The Rescue of Penelope
http://youtu.be/VSuFsowJxSs
http://youtu.be/wXfE6LcvHZ8
http://youtu.be/PO2QbFwVz1k
Simple Symphony - Movements 1-2 (Boisterous Bourrée, Playful Pizzicato)
http://youtu.be/RH0OjuiEvwk
* Kiriaki Chrysanidou
The Sentimental Sarabande and the Frolicsome Finale from the Simple Symphony.
http://youtu.be/9ZQJb08TA6U
* Themis Taflanidis
Rostropovich and Britten play Schubert - Arpeggione Sonata (1/3)
http://youtu.be/GN6XCbu7Sj8
This little babe (A Ceremony of Carols)
http://youtu.be/1wayMn7vUEM
* Kostas Grigoreas
Benjamin Britten in rehearsal and performance (vaimusic.com)
http://youtu.be/KSLl7B1uMYU
Benjamin Britten speaks.
http://youtu.be/e3qHoJz9zjA
J. BREAM (κιθάρα)-P. PEARS (τενόρος) ερμηνεύουν BRITTEN(του Δημήτρη Κυπραίου)
http://www.tar.gr/content/content.php?id=1584
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