Britten: Phaedra, Lachrymae and other works

Release Date: 3rd Jan 2006
Catalogue No: CDH55225
Label: Helios
Length: 65 minutes

Britten: Phaedra, Op. 93

Work length15:52

$5.00

$6.25

Jean Rigby (contralto)
The Nash Ensemble
Lionel Friend

I. Prologue 'In May, in brilliant Athens'

Track length1:23

$1.00

$1.25

II. Recitative 'My lost and dazzled eyes'

Track length1:14

$1.00

$1.25

III. Presto 'You monster!'

Track length4:04

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Recitative 'Oh Gods of wrath'

Track length2:52

$1.00

$1.25

V. Adagio 'My time's too short'

Track length6:19

$1.00

$1.25

Britten: Lachrymae for viola & strings, Op. 48a

Work length12:56

$12.00

$15.00

Roger Chase (viola)
The Nash Ensemble
Lionel Friend

I. Lento

Track length1:58

$1.00

$1.25

II. Allegretto, andante molto

Track length0:59

$1.00

$1.25

III. Animato

Track length1:07

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Tranquillo

Track length1:29

$1.00

$1.25

V. Allegro con molto

Track length0:47

$1.00

$1.25

VI. Largamente

Track length0:29

$1.00

$1.25

VII. Appassionato

Track length0:45

$1.00

$1.25

VIII. Alla valse moderato

Track length0:48

$1.00

$1.25

IX. Allegro marcia

Track length0:40

$1.00

$1.25

X. Lento

Track length0:41

$1.00

$1.25

XI. L'istesso tempo

Track length1:53

$1.00

$1.25

XII. A tempo semplice

Track length1:20

$1.00

$1.25

Britten: Sinfonietta, Op. 1

Work length14:09

$3.00

$3.75

The Nash Ensemble
Lionel Friend

I. Poco presto ed agitato

Track length3:55

$1.00

$1.25

II. Variations

Track length6:20

$1.00

$1.25

III. Tarantella

Track length3:54

$1.00

$1.25

Britten: The Sword in the Stone

Work length9:51

$6.00

$7.50

The Nash Ensemble
Lionel Friend

I. Introduction and Boys' Tune

Track length2:03

$1.00

$1.25

II. Merlyn's Tune and Tree Music

Track length1:44

$1.00

$1.25

III. Merlyn's Spell and Witch Tune

Track length1:03

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Bird Music

Track length1:02

$1.00

$1.25

V. Lullaby

Track length1:27

$1.00

$1.25

VI. Water Theme and End Music

Track length2:32

$1.00

$1.25

Britten: Wind Sextet

Work length8:04

$1.50

$1.85

The Nash Ensemble

I. Moderato con molto moto

Track length8:04

$1.50

$1.85

Britten: Night Mail (end sequence)

Work length4:14

$1.00

$1.25

Nigel Hawthorne (narrator)
The Nash Ensemble
Lionel Friend

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About

This recording brings together a remarkably diverse number of works from virtually the entire span of Britten's mature composing career, beginning in 1930 with a movement from an early Wind Sextet and extending as far as his last major vocal composition, Phaedra, written over forty-five years later. Two works receive their first recording. Phaedra represents the distillation of a lifetime's expertise in operatic composition and remains one of the most dramatic cantatas for soprano in the repertoire: the story of Phaedra's incestuous infatuation with her step-son Hippolytus and her subsequent suicide is presented with chilling effect. The famous Lachrymae is here performed in the arrangement for solo viola and string orchestra made by Britten in the last year of his life. The Sinfonietta and the movement for wind sextet are both much earlier works and yet, despite their 'student' status, are remarkably assured examples of Britten's later style. The Sword in the Stone (a BBC commission for incidental music to T H White's novel) has elements of Wagnerian pastiche and the Night Mail End Sequence, with W H Auden's famous poem (This is the night mail crossing the border, / Bringing the cheque and the postal order ), was composed for the most famous of all 1930s documentary films.

Britten: Phaedra, Lachrymae and other works

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