Benjamin BRITTEN (1913-76) Les Illuminations, Op 18 (1940. Trills opening Les Illuminations, and the bustling. New Releases.

Britten’s dramatic cantata Phaedra is the resonant centre of this new release in EMI’s excellent British Composers series. The steely gleam at the core of Felicity Palmer’s mezzo-soprano, and the hard white light of the Endymion’s outstanding ensemble playing make for a fierce kindling of Britten’s music with Robert Lowell’s words at one exceptional moment in the work’s performing history. Microsoft Office 2007 From Torrent.

John Whitfield’s direction ensures that the Five French Folksongs are nicely poised between raw simplicity and elegant sophistication, while the Endymion’s incisive playing warms to the sensuousness of Jill Gomez’s Les Illuminations. Hilary Finch.

Repertoire Note Britten continued his imaginative exploitation of string orchestra sonorities begun in the Frank Bridge Variations with these exhilarating settings of poems by Arthur Rimbaud, begun in Suffolk in March 1939 and completed a few months later in the USA. Originally written for soprano Sophie Wyss, the work can, and often is, performed by a tenor: Britten first performed the piece with Peter Pears as early as 1941. The work has been successfully choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton and Richard Alston. Crack Carte Sd Navteq there.