COMPOSERS: Britten
LABELS: EMI
WORKS: Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings; Now sleeps the crimson petal; Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes; Simple Symphony; Canadian Carnival
PERFORMER: Neil Mackie (tenor), Barry Tuckwell (horn); Scottish CO/Steuart Bedford, LSO/André Previn, RPO/ Malcolm Sargent, CBSO/Simon Rattle
CATALOGUE NO: HMV 5 68334 2 ADD/DDD (available HMV shops only) (1961-94)
This attractive compilation features some of Britten’s most inventive music. The colourfully orchestrated Canadian Carnival of 1939 and the Tennyson setting ‘Now sleeps the crimson petal’, originally conceived as part of the Serenade, are least familiar, but are well worth hearing. The performances of both the Sea Interludes and the Serenade are wholly idiomatic, while in Sargent’s hands the Simple Symphony exudes rather less charm than usual, but has real strength and purpose. Terry Barfoot
Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings; Now sleeps the crimson petal; Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes; Simple Symphony; Canadian Carnival
This attractive compilation features some of Britten’s most inventive music. The colourfully orchestrated Canadian Carnival of 1939 and the Tennyson setting ‘Now sleeps the crimson petal’, originally conceived as part of the Serenade, are least familiar, but are well worth hearing. The performances of both the Sea Interludes and the Serenade are wholly idiomatic, while in Sargent’s hands the Simple Symphony exudes rather less charm than usual, but has real strength and purpose. Terry Barfoot
Our rating
5
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:33 pm