The Canticles by Ben Johnson / James Baillieu / Christopher Ainslie / Benedict Nelson / Martin Owen / Lucy Wakeford

Benjamin Britten

Ben Johnson / James Baillieu / Christopher Ainslie / Benedict Nelson / Martin Owen / Lucy Wakeford

The Canticles

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212031728
Catnr: SIGCD 317
Release date: 01 February 2013
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Label
Signum Classics

UPC
0635212031728

Catalogue number
SIGCD 317

Release date
01 February 2013

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

As part of the celebration Britten's Centenery in 2013, this new recording presents Britten's five Canticles, performed by tenor Ben Johnson with James Baillieu accompanying.

Ben Johnson describes his attraction to these works in his self-penned notes for the record: "Each is deep with meaning or subversion, a trademark of Britten’s music to a modern audience. In their very performance they glide through such variety of style that it makes them wonderfully difficult to categorise. They are song, opera, cantata and chamber music, and so they correspond with the most delicate of intimacy and to the most effective of grand gesture … In his biography of Britten, Humphrey Carpenter points out the close links between the Canticles and Britten’s operas. This answers in part their difference from the ‘usual’ song repertoire: their religious flavour (a stronger taste in some than others) mixed with the circumstances of their composition make for a unique strand in Britten’s output."

De unieke en veelzijdige Canticles van Britten
Dit album, uitgebracht ter gelegenheid van Brittens 100e geboortedag in 2013, presenteert zijn vijf Canticles, uitgevoerd door tenor Ben Johnson onder begeleiding van pianist James Baillieu.

Ben Johnson over de aantrekkingskracht van deze werken: “Elk [van de Canticles] zit vol met betekenis of ontwrichting, een handelsmerk van Brittens muziek volgens een modern publiek. In hun uitvoering zweven ze door een diversiteit aan stijlen die zo omvangrijk is dat het lastig is ze te categoriseren. Ze vallen binnen de categorieën lied, opera, cantate en kamermuziek, en corresponderen dus zowel met de meest verfijnde intimiteit als met de meest effectieve grootse gebaren.”

“In zijn biografie van Britten wijst Humphrey Carpenter op de nauwe verbanden tussen de Canticles en de opera’s van de componist. Dit verklaart deels hun verschillen met het ‘gebruikelijke’ liedrepertoire: hun religieuze smaak (in de ene canticle sterker dan in de andere) vermengd met de omstandigheden van hun compositie zorgen voor een unieke streng in Britten’s oeuvre.”

Artist(s)

Ben Johnson

James Baillieu

Described by The Telegraph as “in a class of his own” James Baillieu has been the prize-winner of the Wigmore Hall Song Competition, Das Lied International Song Competition, Kathleen Ferrier and Richard Tauber competitions. He was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2010 and in 2012 received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a Geoffrey Parsons Memorial Trust Award. In 2016 he was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Outstanding Young Artist Award. James has given solo and chamber recitals throughout Europe and further afield. He collaborates with a wide range of singers and instrumentalists including Lawrence Power, Jack Liebeck, the Elias and Heath quartets, Ian Bostridge, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Annette Dasch, Pumeza Matshikiza, Jamie Barton, Markus...

James has given solo and chamber recitals throughout Europe and further afield. He collaborates with a wide range of singers and instrumentalists including Lawrence Power, Jack Liebeck, the Elias and Heath quartets, Ian Bostridge, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Annette Dasch, Pumeza Matshikiza, Jamie Barton, Markus Werba and Catherine Wyn Rogers. Venues include Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Berlin Konzerthaus, Vienna Musikverein, the Barbican Centre London, Wiener Konzerthaus, Cologne Philharmonie and the Laeiszhalle Hamburg. Festivals include Festpillene i Bergen, Spitalfields, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Bath, City of London, Aix-en-Provence, Verbier, St Magnus, Derry, Norfolk and Norwich and Brighton festivals. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Ulster Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and the Wiener Kammersymphonie.

An innovative programmer, James has already curated a number of projects, including series for the Brighton Festival, Wigmore Hall, BBC Radio 3, Bath International Festival and Perth Concert Hall.

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Christopher Ainslie

Benedict Nelson

Martin Owen

Lucy Wakeford

Composer(s)

Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten is one most important British composers from the second half of the twentieth century. Remarkably, he focused on opera, a dying genre, at least in its current form. Britten's contributions however, among which Peter Grimes, The Rape of Lucretia, Gloriana, The Turn of the Screw, and Death in Venice, managed to remain core repertoire for opera companies to this day. Many of these productions included a role for his artistic partner and life companion Peter Pears. Britten also wrote a number of lieder for this tenor, among which his Serenade for tenor, horn and string orchestra. Yet, Britten excelled in many more genres. He wasn't even 20 years old when he composed his brilliant Phantasy for hobo quartet and his friendship with...

Benjamin Britten is one most important British composers from the second half of the twentieth century. Remarkably, he focused on opera, a dying genre, at least in its current form. Britten's contributions however, among which Peter Grimes, The Rape of Lucretia, Gloriana, The Turn of the Screw, and Death in Venice, managed to remain core repertoire for opera companies to this day. Many of these productions included a role for his artistic partner and life companion Peter Pears. Britten also wrote a number of lieder for this tenor, among which his Serenade for tenor, horn and string orchestra. Yet, Britten excelled in many more genres. He wasn't even 20 years old when he composed his brilliant Phantasy for hobo quartet and his friendship with the legendary cellist Rostropovich led to a Cello sonata, three Suites for cello solo and a Symphony for Cello and orchestra in the 1960s.

Britten never became Master of the Queen's Music, yet he surely had feeling for public sentiments. For example, as a pacifist, he taught his people about world peace through his War Requiem from 1962. Britten was an excellent interpreter of his own work, just like Bartók and Stravinsky. Many of his recordings have been matched, but never exceeded.

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