COMPOSERS: Britten
LABELS: Chandos Collect
WORKS: Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge; Simple Symphony; Prelude and Fugue, Op. 29
PERFORMER: Bournemouth Sinfonietta/Ronald Thomas
CATALOGUE NO: CHAN 6592 ADD (1977)
Britten’s string music inspired by, or written for, the Boyd Neel Orchestra makes an attractive coupling here. The brilliantly orchestrated Frank Bridge Variations are given a strong, responsive reading, and the atmospheric string writing in the Prelude and Fugue is effectively expressed. The Simple Symphony sounds fresh and alert, though some may still prefer Britten’s own 1969 recording with the ECO. The sound, despite some harshness in the treble, is generally rich and resonant. Nicholas Rast
Britten: Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge; Simple Symphony; Prelude and Fugue, Op. 29
Britten’s string music inspired by, or written for, the Boyd Neel Orchestra makes an attractive coupling here. The brilliantly orchestrated Frank Bridge Variations are given a strong, responsive reading, and the atmospheric string writing in the Prelude and Fugue is effectively expressed. The Simple Symphony sounds fresh and alert, though some may still prefer Britten’s own 1969 recording with the ECO. The sound, despite some harshness in the treble, is generally rich and resonant. Nicholas Rast
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:35 pm