Britten: Holy Sonnets (song cycle) Op. 35

Amazon.com
This is heavy stuff. You don't fool around with texts like "Oh my blacke Soule!" and "Death, be not proud," two of the John Donne sonnets that Britten has so powerfully, profoundly set, and which tenor Philip Langridge so convincingly performs. The Michelangelo sonnets and "Winter Words" are no less challenging, but here is some of the most important and original vocal music of the 20th century. --David Vernier

Britten: Holy Sonnets (song cycle) Op. 35,Britten,Langridge,Bedford,Collins Classics,Classical,Classical Music

Average customer rating: NOT SO MUCH BILLY BUDD, MORE EDWARD FAIRFAX VERE TAKING OUR SALVATION ANY WAY IT COMES A Great Performance By the Composer

Britten: Holy Sonnets, Billy Budd, etc. / Britten, Glossop, Pears, et al Manufacturer: Decca ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Britten | Britten, Sir Benjamin | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Brannigan, Owen | ( B ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Britten, Sir Benjamin | A to B | Featured Composers, A-Z | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music English | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Songs & Lieder | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music Similar Items: Britten: The Turn Of The Screw / Britten, Pears, Vyvyan, Cross, et al A Midsummer Night's Dream / Britten, London SO Britten - Peter Grimes / Pears · C. Watson · Pease · Brannigan · J. Watson · Elms · Studholme · Kells · R. Nilsson · Lanigan · G. Evans · D. Kelly · ROH Covent Garden · Britten Britten: The Rape of Lucretia; Phaedra Britten: Albert Herring ASIN: B0000041RZ Release Date: 1989-05-09

Tracks:

1. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: Oh My Blacke Soule!
2. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: Batter My Heart
3. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: Oh Might Those Sighes And Teares
4. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: Oh, To Vex Me
5. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: What If This Present
6. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: Since She Whom I Loved
7. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: At The Round Earth's Imagin'd Corners
8. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: Thou Hast Made Me
9. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: Death Be Not Proud
10. Songs And Proverbs Of William Blake, Op. 74: The Pride Of The Peacock...London
11. Songs And Proverbs Of William Blake, Op. 74: Prisons Are Built...The Chimney Sweeper
12. Songs And Proverbs Of William Blake, Op. 74: The Bird A Nest...A Poison Tree
13. Songs And Proverbs Of William Blake, Op. 74: Think In The Morning...The Tyger
14. Songs And Proverbs Of William Blake, Op. 74: The Tygers Of Wrath...The Fly
15. Songs And Proverbs Of William Blake, Op. 74: The Hours Of Folly...Ah, Sun-Flower
16. Songs And Proverbs Of William Blake, Op. 74: To See A World...Every Night & Every Morn
17. Billy Budd: Prologue: I Am An Old Man
18. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 1: Pull, My Bantams!
19. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 1: Guard Boat! Indomitable!
20. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 1: First Man Forward!
21. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 1: Your Name?
22. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 1: Billy Budd, King Of The Birds!

Tracks:

1. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 1: I Heard, Your Honour!
2. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 1: Come Along Kid! Come Along!
3. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 1: Christ! The Poor Chap
4. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 1: What's That? What's Those Whistles?
5. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 1: Starry Vere We Call Him
6. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 2: Boy!
7. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 2: Gentlemen, The King!
8. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 2: Ay, At Spithead
9. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 2: We Are, Sir. Claggart Is An Able One
10. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 3: Blow Her Away
11. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 3: We're Off To Samoa
12. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 3: Hi! You...A...A...
13. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 3: Over The Water
14. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 3: Come Here. Remember Your Promise
15. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 3: Billy!... Hist! Billy Budd!
16. Billy Budd: Act One - Scene 3: Dansker, Old Friend, Glad To See You

Tracks:

1. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 1: I Don't Like The Look Of The Mist
2. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 1: With Great Regret I Must Disturb Your Honour
3. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 1: Deck Ahoy!
4. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 1: Who'll Volunteer To Board 'Em
5. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 1: There You Are Again, Master-At-Arms
6. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 1: O This Cursed Mist!
7. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 2: Claggart, John Claggart, Beware!
8. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 2: Master-At-Arms And Foretopman
9. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 2: God O' Mercy!
10. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 2: Gentlemen, William Budd Here
11. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 2: William Budd, You Are Accused
12. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 2: Poor Fellow, Who Could Save Him?
13. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 2: I Accept Their Verdict
14. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 3: Look!
15. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 3: Here! Baby!
16. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 3: And Farewell To Ye, Old Rights O' Man!
17. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 3: Interlude
18. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 4: 'According To The Articles Of War'
19. Billy Budd: Act Two - Scene 4: Down All Hands!
20. Billy Budd: Epilogue: We Committed His Body To The Deep

Customer Reviews:

NOT SO MUCH BILLY BUDD, MORE EDWARD FAIRFAX VERE.......2006-08-31

When you look at all the operatic roles that Britten created for his lifelong partner in life and music (something in every opera except Noye), the first thing that becomes clear is how well he understood Peter Pears' voice and musical talents. The vocal lines fit the voice perfectly, utilising all its strengths and usually avoiding its weaknesses. When you look at the characters he asked Pears to play, however, a rather different picture emerges. As a performer, Pears comes across as rather refined, sophisticated, something of an aesthete, a bit of an intellectual. So, while he makes a good fist of Peter Grimes, it is Grimes the dreamer that tends to stay in the memory: the tough, violent, naïve fisherman is more Jon Vickers territory. The innocent Albert Herring, the impetuous Essex and the impassioned Lysander (though Flute was his original part) really don't work very well as characters with Pears. And, while no-one sings the trance-inducing melismas of Quint quite like him, do we really believe he is the incarnation of corrupting evil? The Male Chorus in Lucretia fares better because he is just an observer with little personality of his own. And Pears' roles in the Church Parables are sufficiently distanced by the Brechtian/Noh ritual of the pieces to allow him to view these characters more objectively.

The two parts that work best for Pears are Aschenbach, the composer's final gift to his lover, and Captain Vere in Billy Budd. Certainly Vere is something of an intellectual and an aesthete: he is a reader of Plutarch, a man somewhat out of touch with the rough sentiments of his subordinate officers, prone to using classical references they don't understand. And he is, like Aschenbach, highly susceptible to the Apollonian appeal of Billy's handsomeness, goodness and beauty (Claggart's words). One suspects that, like Aschenbach again, there is also a more Dionysian aspect to this attraction. Certainly the redemption Vere attributes to Billy's death on that clear, blue morning in enemy waters is not quite as clear and blue and cloudless as he would like to imagine.

Captain Vere is one of the most complex of all Britten's characters (at least before Aschenbach). That is, of course, thanks to the subtlety of E.M.Forster's libretto and of Britten's music. But it is also thanks to the force of Pears interpretation. I am inclined to think that this is his best performance in any of the operas on disc. He successfully adumbrates all the different sides of the role - the humanist and the military stickler, the charismatic leader of men and a man torn by internal moral dilemmas and indecisions, an outsider by nature of his rank and his own inclinations who is placed in the closest-knit of male communities. That the part is magnificently sung by Pears goes almost without saying. That he makes the character so fascinating, so complex and so real in the agony of the choices he faces is down to Pears' superlative vocal acting. In this performance it is Vere rather than Billy who is the hero, the focus of the whole opera.

Which is not to take away from what is a great team performance of this important opera. Britten never seemed able to cast Billy from the ranks of the Aldeburgh coterie - Theodor Uppman, the Billy at the premiere, was an American import; Peter Glossop on this recording, a North Country Verdi specialist. He sings the part well enough, is touching in Billy in the Darbies, but can be a little unimaginative. Claggart is in the hands of the underrated and under-recorded Michael Langdon (a great Ochs in his time), as black of voice and soul as any Wagnerian villain. The quarter-deck officers are a fine set of Britten regulars: the lower-decks boast some fine newcomers to those ranks in the likes of Robert Tear and Benjamin Luxon as the Novice and his Friend. The chorus are magnificent, whether in the drudgery of daily chores, the relaxation of shanty-singing or the excitement of battle. Britten, as you would expect, conducts his own music with a naturalness and a perception that allows detail to make its points without ever losing sight of the overall structure (all to do with two fiercely opposed key-centres, set out in the Prologue and only finding their eventual resolution in the Epilogue).

The two fill-ups on Disc 1 add to the value of the set if not seeming strictly relevant to the opera they accompany - the Metamorphoses for Oboe would have done that better. Nevertheless the Donne Sonnets from the end of the War and the Blake Songs and Proverbs from the 60's get definitive performances from Pears and Fischer-Dieskau respectively, both with the composer at the piano.

TAKING OUR SALVATION ANY WAY IT COMES.......2005-08-16

The strained economic situation of the classical music industry is working in many ways to our advantage as consumers. Britten's settings of Blake and Donne would never have been issued bundled together with Billy Budd in the vinyl era I'm quite sure. These days if we don't think one follows on from the other we don't have to get out of our armchair to select them as we please, and the composer's accounts of his own songs in partnership with Pears and Fischer-Dieskau would surely be a welcome supplement to more or less any classical cd release.

However I imagine the public for this set will consist mostly of enthusiasts for Britten's great masterpiece Billy Budd. This is music-drama, not opera, and the theme of the drama has a certain ambiguity of a kind that Britten was drawn to, as in the unresolved questions left at the end of The Turn of the Screw. The story is adapted by E M Forster and Eric Crozier from Melville. Melville's inspiration in turn was sparked off by the reportage on a court of enquiry into the execution of an ordinary seaman for mutiny. The captain who had so ordered had been advised that the evidence against the seaman was thin. Perceiving nonetheless a need to encourage the others by executing someone, the captain prevailed on the trial officers to take a more forward-leaning view. This they duly did, the captain explained to the man about to be hanged that this was all for the greater glory of the flag, whereupon the man blessed captain and flag.

The story of Billy Budd quite obviously had powerful resonance for Forster and Britten. It is a chamber drama basically, for all the background of war at sea between Britain and revolutionary France. There are three main actors - Billy himself, the captain, and the master-at-arms John Claggart. The action, on the face of it, seems small-scale. Claggart conceives a vicious spite against the innocent but adept and personable Billy, strong enough, it seems, for him to try to frame Billy on the capital charge of mutiny. The captain in this case recognises Claggart for the lying ratbag that he is, but goes through the formality of having Billy face his accuser. Rendered inarticulate by his stutter, Billy (whose loyalty to the captain would grace any dog) lashes out with his fist and his one punch kills Claggart. The captain knows the true score perfectly well, but hides behind formal processes again, in the full knowledge that he is thereby condemning an innocent man to death. However just listen to the music accompanying Claggart's first entrance - it would be very overblown just for some spiteful nonentity. Claggart, though unpopular and clearly unpleasant, is not a psychopath, but his hatred of Billy is unprovoked and his scheming is without any motive of personal advantage in an ordinary sense. What it all seems to amount to for Forster and Britten is firstly a parable of some cosmic evil aroused by innocence - the insignificant Claggart is given an Iago-like monologue of enormous and generalised portentousness as well as that sinister introduction from the orchestra. The drama then advances to a near-Faustian level in which the captain seems to stand outside himself and see eternal forces at work, with himself as a pawn in their strategy rather than just a human buck-passer of an all-too-familiar type. It all ends with Billy blessing the captain like the seaman in the original report, and there is an epilogue in which the captain, near the end of his life, reflects on the salvation this blessing brought him.

It must be the easiest, or at least the quickest, transition to salvation in all serious drama. A few hours and that was all done and dusted. I can't really imagine that many spectators or listeners will identify with a theme like this, but there is no mistaking the strength of the response it evokes from Britten. Add Forster to that, and maybe to some extent Melville himself, and it is time to suspend scepticism and realise that we are being given a glimpse of a very special, even elite, vision of how deity, or fate or whatever, operates. Most of us probably do not see things this way, but most of us are not Forster or Britten or Melville. As for authenticity in performance, that is self-defined here.

The foregoing is one man's interpretation of what this strange and elusive drama might be saying. We can be sure of one thing at least - whatever it all really signifies we are hearing it here. The cast are excellent - this work is a team job, not an opera with star solos, although Billy's final song (in rhyming verse and as truly an aria as anything by Britten's beloved Verdi) is done to what seems to me to be perfection by Peter Glossop. The LSO and the Ambrosian Singers do not let anyone down either, and the 1968 recording still sounds well. Such is the composer's sheer technical skill that it was only after the work had finished that I realised that this whole music-drama contains not one note for a female voice. You may understand the work differently, but you will be hard put to it to experience the power of it more than I have done, whatever it all may mean or imply.

A Great Performance By the Composer.......2001-12-08

I recently saw a terrific performance of Billy Budd and the sheer excitement of the opera led me to seek out a copy. I read reviews of the available records and came to choose this one. The reason was the dramatic tension that the composer brings to this recording. The sets by Kent Nagano and Richard Hickox are also excellent but I was won over by the fact that this is Benjamin Britten's last word on his opera.

The only disadvantage would be that this is a remastered and not a digital recording but the sound is certainly clear and the casting is superb. Peter Glossop is a perfect Billy Budd and brings out the goodness of his character wonderfully. Michael Langdon is a menacing John Claggart and Sir Peter Pears is an able Captain Vere. The entire cast sing their roles with great ability and I think no one would be disappointed in owning this set.

Perhaps oddly, two other works by Britten are included: The Holy Sonnets of John Donne and Songs and Proverbs of William Blake, both for piano and voice. In the former work, Britten is joined by Peter Pears and in the latter by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Both works are solemn in character and I doubt that I will play them very often. I am not sure why they were included here unless Decca, who recorded then around the same time, made the decision that they would not sell well on their own. On the other hand, I will be listening to Billy Budd frequently.

Average customer rating: rarely heard music A voice teacher and early music fan Good, but could be much better... THE English Singer sings music by THE English Songwriter

Britten: Holy Sonnets Op35 / Bostridge, Johnson Benjamin Britten , Ian Bostridge , Graham Johnson , Edward Perry , Jeremiah Taylor , John Donne , Peter Burra , Arthur Waley , Thomas Lovell Beddoes , Louis MacNiece , and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Manufacturer: Hyperion UK ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Britten | Britten, Sir Benjamin | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Bostridge, Ian | ( B ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Songs & Lieder | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Classical | Imports | Stores | Music Similar Items: Britten: The Canticles; Ian Bostridge, David Daniels Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings; Les Illuminations; Nocturne Britten: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo; The Holy Sonnets of John Donne; Winter Words Ian Bostridge Sings Britten Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs ASIN: B000002ZWS Release Date: 1995-11-21

Tracks:

1. Harmonia Sacra: Pelham Humfreys: Lord! I Have Sinned
2. Harmonia Sacra: Pelham Humfreys: Hymn To God The Father
3. Harmonia Sacra: William Croft: A Hymn On Divine Musick
4. The Way To The Tomb...: Evening
5. The Way To The Tomb...: Morning
6. The Way To The Tomb...: Night
7. W H Auden Settings: Night Covers Up The Rigid Land
8. W H Auden Settings: Fish In The Unruffled Lakes
9. W H Auden Settings: To Lie Flat On The Back With The Knees Flexed
10. The Red Cockatoo & Other Songs: A Poison Tree (Blake)
11. The Red Cockatoo & Other Songs: When You're Feeling Like Expressing Your Affection (Auden)
12. The Red Cockatoo & Other Songs: Not Even Summer Yet (Burra)
13. The Red Cockatoo & Other Songs: The Red Cockatoo (Waley)
14. The Red Cockatoo & Other Songs: Wild With Passion (Beddoes)
15. The Red Cockatoo & Other Songs: If Thou Wilt Ease Thine Heart (Beddoes)
16. The Red Cockatoo & Other Songs: Cradle Song For Eleanor (MacNeice)
17. The Red Cockatoo & Other Songs: Birthday Song For Erwin (Duncan)
18. The Red Cockatoo & Other Songs: Um Mitternacht (Goethe)
19. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: Oh My Black Soule!
20. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: Batter My Heart
21. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: O Might Those Sighes And Teares
22. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: Oh, To Vex Me
23. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: What If This Present
24. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: Since She Whom I Loved
25. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: At The Round Earth's Imagined Corners
26. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: Thou Hast Made Me
27. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op. 35: Death, Be Not Proud

Customer Reviews:

rarely heard music.......2007-01-07

Good on you Bostridge! These BRitten songs are fabulous - didn't even know that some of them even existed! JOhnson's playing makes for a perfect duo with Bostridge's intelligent interpretations of these brilliant songs.

A voice teacher and early music fan.......2006-02-07

Oh Hearken all ye true lovers of GOOD MUSIC for this album presents some of the most profoundly beautiful songs you will ever hear anywhere!!!It would be worthwhile even if you only enjoyed the first 3 songs on the disc: the 3 Realizations from Harmonia Sacra which are 'Lord! I have sinned','Hymn to God the Father' by Pelham Humfreys and 'A Hymn on Divine Music' (which is absolutely so meaningful to us who love the art of music) by William Croft all arranged by Britten for tenor and harp. And all sung by one of the most exquisitely beautiful tenor voices ever to come out of the UK; flawless diction,resonant and vibrant tone quality and highly emotional portraying every little nuance in the song.
I bought this album because the music of Britten has always intrigued me and I was not disappointed in the variety of songs included on this album. The nine Holy Sonnets of John Donne are profound religious meditations,all of which are concerned with death and repentance. The songs 'Evening','Morning', and 'Night', are taken from the incidental music for Ronald Duncan's Masque 'This Way to the Tomb'.There are songs with settings of W.H. Auden, and several other writers too numerous to mention, but suffice it to say that there is sufficient variety to keep all listeners interested throughout the disc. Some of the songs I found particularly interesting are:'The Red Cockatoo',Waley-'A Poison Tree',Blake-'Cradle Song for Eleanor',MacNeice-and 'Death be not Proud'. When you have an Ian Bostridge available there is no need to look for anyone else. He has all the vocal skills and nuances to sing each song as an island in itself; simply marvelous interpretations, and he is fortunate to have Graham Johnson to accompany him.

Good, but could be much better..........2004-11-02

While I do like some of what Bostridge does, his recorded performances to me seem to be filled more and more with musical gimmicks. His tone I find refreshing from so many English tenors who sound like they are in pain while singing, but Brostridge truly does lack a good legato line and he often uses a horrible strident quality for emphisis of text.

Peter Pears' recordings of many of these songs are still in many ways the difinitive performances, but I do like to hear other voices sing this repertoire and unfortunately very few options are out there. So, kudos to Bostridge for recording these songs, but lets not crown him THE new Britten singer of our time.

THE English Singer sings music by THE English Songwriter.......2000-02-29

This CD lets us know that not only was Britten the greatest of English composers since Purcell, but he is an absolute master at songwriting. His economic style is perfect for songs, his choice of text is truly sophisticated and his idiomatic writing for both piano and voice put the listener always on the edge of his or her seat. Bostridge's light but powerful voice suits these songs perfectly. And Graham Johnson's piano playing is unsurpassable. One of my favorite CDs!

Average customer rating: Some of Britten's finest music

Britten: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo; The Holy Sonnets of John Donne; Winter Words Manufacturer: Naxos ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Britten | Britten, Sir Benjamin | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Songs & Lieder | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music 4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Britten: The Canticles; Ian Bostridge, David Daniels Britten: Holy Sonnets Op35 / Bostridge, Johnson Serenade/Les Illuminations/Nocturne Britten: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings; Nocturne; Phaedra ASIN: B0001CYA1W Release Date: 2004-03-16

Tracks:

1. Sonnet VI: Oh My Blacke Soule!
2. Sonnet XIV: Batter My Heart
3. Sonnet III: O Might Those Sighes And Teares
4. Sonnet XIX: Oh, To Vex Me
5. Sonnet XIII: What If This Present
6. Sonnet XVII: Since She Whom I Lov'd
7. Sonnet VII: At The Round Earth's Imagin'd Corners
8. Sonnet I: Thou Hast Made Me
9. Sonnet X: Death, Be Not Proud
10. Sonetto XVI: Si Come Nella Penna E Nell'inchiostro
11. Sonetto XXXI: A Che Piu Debb'io Mai L'intensa Voglia
12. Sonetto XXX: Veggio Co' Be' Vostri Occhi Un Dolce Lume
13. Sonetto L; Tu Sa' Ch'io So, Signior Mie, Che Tu Sai
14. Sonetto XXXVIII: Rendete A Gli Occhi Miei, O Fonte O Fiume
15. Sonetto XXXII: S'un Casto Amor, S'una Pieta Superna
16. Sonetto XXIV: Spirto Ben Nato, In Cui Si Specchia E Vede
17. At Day-Close In November
18. Midnight On The Great Western
19. Wagtail And Baby
20. The Little Old Table
21. The Choirmaster's Burial
22. Proud Songsters
23. At The Railway Station, Upway
24. Before Life And After
25. If It's Ever Spring Again
26. The Children And Sir Nameless

Customer Reviews:

Some of Britten's finest music.......2006-04-08

I bought this cd many years ago because it was so cheap. I was only a teenager and Britten wasn't in my blood then; I didn't understand his musical language. I have recently revisited this music after a lot more experience with Britten, and is now one of my most played recordings. The Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo are truly one of the great song-cycles of this century, along with the other two on this disc. The Michelangelo Sonnets are Italianate and quasi-operatic in nature, but difinitively Britten. Of the three, I would say Winter Words is the most difficult to appreciate, definately an acquired tast. I love Philip Langridge, and he is one of the premeire Britten interpreters, to me his voice is very reminiscent of Pears. But honestly if you want to here the Sonnets in all their glory, listen to the Anthony Rolfe Johnson recording. Whereas I now appreciate this music, it takes a little warming up to, but at the price it can't be beat. If it is your first experience with Britten, don't give up on these peices if they don't speak to you right away. For me, I just had to periodically revist them until I could appreciate them for what they are, truly great cycles.

Average customer rating:

20th Century English Art Songs: Britten & Quilter Manufacturer: G.M. Recordings ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Britten | Britten, Sir Benjamin | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Songs & Lieder | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music ASIN: B000005VXT Release Date: 1996-10-01

Tracks:

1. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne: O My Blacke Soule
2. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne: Batter My Heart
3. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne: O Might Those Sighs And Teares
4. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne: Oh, To Vex Me
5. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne: What If This Present
6. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne: Since She Whom I Loved
7. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne: At The Round Earth's Imagined Corners
8. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne: Thou Hast Made Me
9. The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne: Death, Be Not Proud
10. On This Island: Let The Florid Music Praise!
11. On This Island: Now The Leaves Are Falling Fast
12. On This Island: Seascape
13. On This Island: Nocturne
14. On This Island: As It Is
15. Seven Elizabethan Lyrics: Weep You No More
16. Seven Elizabethan Lyrics: My Life's Delight
17. Seven Elizabethan Lyrics: Damask Roses
18. Seven Elizabethan Lyrics: The Faithless Shepardess
19. Seven Elizabethan Lyrics: Brown Is My Love
20. Seven Elizabethan Lyrics: By A Fountainside
21. Seven Elizabethan Lyrics: Fair House Of Joy
22. To Julia: Prld
23. To Julia: The Bracelet
24. To Julia: The Maiden Blush
25. To Julia: To Daisies
26. To Julia: The Night Piece
27. To Julia: Julia's Hair
28. To Julia: Interlude
29. To Julia: Cherry Ripe

Average customer rating:

The Holy Sonnets of John Donne et.al. Manufacturer: Musical Heritage Society ProductGroup: Classical Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B000GDDQ98

Average customer rating: Stunning songs, superbly performed

Britten: Holy Sonnets (song cycle) Op. 35 Manufacturer: Collins Classics ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Britten | Britten, Sir Benjamin | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Songs & Lieder | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music ASIN: B000003VZB Release Date: 1996-05-14

Tracks:

1. The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op.35: Sonnet VI: Oh my blacke Soule!
2. The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op.35: Sonnet XIV: Batter my heart
3. The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op.35: Sonnet III: O might those sighes and teares
4. The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op.35: Sonnet XIX. Oh, to vex me
5. The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op.35: Sonnet XIII. What if this present
6. The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op.35: Sonnet XVII. Since she whom I lov'd
7. The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op.35: Sonnet VII. At the round Earth's imagin'd corners
8. The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op.35: Sonnet I: Thou hast made me
9. The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op.35: Sonnet X: Death, be not proud
10. Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Op.22: Sonneto XVI: Si come nella penna e nell' inchiostro
11. Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Op.22: Sonneto XXXI: A che piu debb io mai l'intensa voglia
12. Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Op.22: Sonneto XXX: Veggio co' bei vostri occhi un dolce lume
13. Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Op.22: Sonneto LV: Tu sa' ch'io so, signior mie, che tu sai
14. Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Op.22: Sonneto XXXVIII: Rendete a gli occhi miei, o fonte o fiume
15. Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Op.22: Sonneto XXXII: S'un casto amor, s una pieta superna
16. Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Op.22: Sonneto XXIV: Spirto ben nato, in cui si specchia e vede
17. Winter Words, Op.52: At Day-close in November
18. Winter Words, Op.52: Midnight on the Great Western
19. Winter Words, Op.52: Wagtail and Baby
20. Winter Words, Op.52: The Little Old Table
21. Winter Words, Op.52: The Choirmaster's Burial
22. Winter Words, Op.52: Proud Songsters
23. Winter Words, Op.52: At the Railway Station, Upway
24. Winter Words, Op.52: Before Life and After
25. If it's ever Spring again
26. The Children and Sir Nameless

Amazon.com

This is heavy stuff. You don't fool around with texts like "Oh my blacke Soule!" and "Death, be not proud," two of the John Donne sonnets that Britten has so powerfully, profoundly set, and which tenor Philip Langridge so convincingly performs. The Michelangelo sonnets and "Winter Words" are no less challenging, but here is some of the most important and original vocal music of the 20th century. --David Vernier

Customer Reviews:

Stunning songs, superbly performed.......2003-01-08

This is a splendid rendering all around. The compositions are fantastic, and Philip Langridge has the exquisite instrument to perform these movingly.

Here some notes on the work cribbed from the All Classical Guide:


This song cycle for piano and tenor voice is one of the largest and most profound of Benjamin Britten's many vocal publications, and one of the most distinguished of the twentieth century.
It is the third major song cycle he composed specifically for the voice of Peter Pears, his life partner. Although Britten and Pears had been reading Donne as early as two years earlier, serious work on the cycle was triggered by a specific occasion for performance, Pears and Britten planned a Purcell commemorative concert set for November 1945 at Wigmore Hall. Britten decided to write a cycle in the spirit of Purcell's Divine Hymns to include on the program.

But it is another experience, a particular recital, that impelled the emotional depth of this cycle. Almost as soon as the war ended in Europe, Yehudi Menuhin began touring Europe. Britten joined him for concerts in Germany, which included a performance on July 27 for survivors of the Belsen Concentration Camp.

The cycle begins with "O my blacke Soule," to a stark, hammering piano accompaniment and a vocal setting that emphasizes Donne's rhythmic patterns. "Batter my heart" is a demonic perpetual motion piece at high speed, calling for utmost flexibility, range, and power on the part of the tenor.

A stunned quietness rules the third song, "O might these sighes and teares." The traditional musical representation of a sigh, the interval of the falling second, dominates this song, and from this point the half-step relationship is the most important structural element of the cycle.

"Oh, to vex me" is another moto perpetuo in the piano part, although the line of the voice part is more broken. It ends with a literal shaking in the singer's voice to illustrate the words.

The fifth song, "What if this present" asks the unsettling question, what if this were the earth's last night? Would Christ's crucifixion be in vain as far as the poet's soul is concerned? The tormented answer is "No." This song, the central point in the cycle, is also its darkest moment.

More peaceful, calmly oscillating piano chords begin a path to redemption in "Since she whom I lov'd." Since she is now in heaven, the poet is thinking "wholly on heavenly things."

The seventh song, "At the round earths imagin'd corners," expresses certainty in resurrection and judgment and prays to be taught true repentance. The piano accompaniment has a remarkable ringing effect.

This prayer is continued in "Thou has made me"; the poet begs for grace more for God's sake (lest His work of creation be in vain) than the poet's own. The music is again rushing and agitated, but now this seems directed towards resolution rather than despair, which is found in the final song, the famous "Death be not proud," for "One short sleepe past. Wee wake eternally, And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die." The music has an assured, regular tread as the it becomes a lullaby welcoming this final rest. -- Joseph Stevenson

Track Listings:

1. C.P.E. Bach: Symphony in D; Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik
2. César Franck: The Organ Works
3. Canticles / Heart of the Matter
4. Darting the Skiff / Maharal Dreaming
5. David Matthews: Symphony No. 4, Op. 52 - Malcolm Nabarro
6. Davies: Caroline Mathilde-Concert Suite (from Act I)
7. DER ROSENKAVALIER : Erich Kleiber - Reining, Weber, Jurinac, Gueden
8. Dominick Argento - An American Romantic - Peter Quince at the Clavier; A Nation of Cowslips; Three Motets; Spirituals and Swedish Chorales
9. Douglas Moore: The Devil & Daniel Webster
10. Duke Quartet

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

Cover to Cover [Import]

José Serebrier: Symphony No. 3 and other works

Forevermore

Music: Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy

In The Beginning

Keep on Steppin'

Hispanic Folk Songs

Janácek: Famous male choruses/ Ríkalda

In the Air

Edición Especial

Lexicon of Live [Live]

I Don't Care/Where Will You Go?

Music: 700 Deep [Explicit Lyrics]

Victoria: Missa Gaudeamus, etc / Carwood, Cardinall's Music

Yours Truly