Britten's The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
Britten's The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
The Gramophone Choice
Coupled with Simple Symphony, Op 4. A Spring Symphony, Op 44 – Spring, the sweet spring. Noyes Fludde – Noye, Noye, take thou thy company…Sir! heare are lions. Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op 31 – Nocturne. Folk Songs – The Plough Boy; Early One Morning. Billy Budd – Interlude and Sea Shanties. A Ceremony of Carols, Op 28 – Adam lay i-bounden. A Hymn to the Virgin. War Requiem – Lacrimosa. Peter Grimes – Interlude (Dawn)
Sir Peter Pears ten Barry Tuckwell hn various soloists; choirs, choruses and orchestras, London Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra / Benjamin Britten pf Norman Del Mar
Decca download 436 990-2DWO (74' · ADD) Recorded 1963-68. Buy from Decca
This reissue includes the composer’s own 1963 recording of The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra with the LSO and his complete 1968 ECO version of the Simple Symphony. The latter is delightfully fresh and is unforgettable for the joyful bounce of the ‘Playful Pizzicato’, helped by the resonant acoustic of the Maltings, Snape. In The Young Person’s Guide, without the now somewhat rather dated text, he adopts quick, demanding tempi, with more spacious ones for the more introspective sections. This is beautiful playing, possessing wit and brilliance, with all kinds of memorable touches. Even if this transfer is a little dry in sonority, this disc is invaluable for these two performances alone. As a bonus we’re offered 10 short excerpts from other major Britten works.
