Britten: The Gully

The second volume in the highly praised survey of all Britten’s songs for voice and piano. As before, the great song cycles rub shoulders with individual songs, and early works. There are world premier recordings here as well.

Malcolm Martineau has gather together the cream of young British singers, and this second volume will be as eagerly awaited and successful as the first (ONYX4071).

Philip Reid’s excellent booklet notes provide an incisive insight to Britten’s song writing – a form of composition that occupied the composer from his earliest compositions through to his last year.

‘This series promises to be a major addition to the Britten discography.’ Gramophone

Steeped in an atmosphere of ancient Scottish musical tradition, Benjamin Britten’s setting of texts by Robert Burns in A Birthday Hansel was his final song-cycle. Who are these children? is another late cycle to poems by William Soutar, combining darkly dramatic musical depictions of wartime life with protest songs which hark back to the composer’s youth.

Acclaimed Scottish tenor Mark Wilde’s sensitivities embrace both the vibrantly dramatic and “gently mellifluous” (Manchester Evening News) qualities in this deeply expressive repertoire.

This Britten recital combines two of the composer’s major song cycles, Winter Words, from 1953, and Who are these Children? (1969). In them he explored themes of loneliness, transcience and war – difficult and harrowing material which would test any composer, but Britten is equal to the challenge. His music works its magic by bringing out poignant emotions and subtle insights, sometimes even more vividly than the texts on their own. The music’s emotional depth is grounded in compelling, quasi-naturalistic sound images, such as the whistling, rattling train in the setting of Thomas Hardy’s Midnight on the Great Western. Providing a lighter note between these gripping works are four settings of poems by Robert Burns, containing some of Britten’s most deft and delicate music. Composed on the request of Queen Elizabeth II in 1975, they originally formed part of a set of six songs for high voice and harp, and were later arranged for piano by Britten’s assistant Colin Matthews.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of England’s greatest composer since Henry Purcell, Decca Classics presents the ultimate Britten box

Britten and Decca enjoyed a unique relationship with the composer, recording most of his key works for the label. Decca’s 1963 set of the War Requiem remains one of the fastest-selling classical releases of all time. The recordings not in the Decca catalogue have been licensed from other companies including EMI, Virgin Classics, Naxos and Warner – a total of 18 rights holders have assisted to make this extraordinary achievement possible, plus the endorsement & support of the Britten-Pears Foundation.

Benjamin Britten was born 22nd November 1913, the feast day of St Cecilia, patron saint of music. Over four intensely creative decades he went on to publish over 100 works, of which the most important dominated and shaped their respective genres – opera with Peter Grimes, the choral oratorio with War Requiem, music to inspire newcomers (Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra), the Song Cycle (Serenade for Tenor Horn and Strings). The sheer range is astonishing.

Britten is the subject of a colossal campaign, Britten100, under the auspices of the Britten-Pears Foundation who have invested £6.5 million in further driving international awareness of the composer.

This 65-CD edition is guaranteed to appeal to Britten enthusiasts worldwide.

· Individually numbered, limited edition (1 to 3,000)

· 208-page hardback book including:-

- A gallery of original LP sleeves, arranged chronologically from 1953 onwards

- Copious Recording session pictures and beautiful Aldeburgh landscapes newly photographed

- ‘Choosing a Record Company’ by discographer Philip Stuart

- ‘Ben – A Tribute to Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)’ by John Culshaw (originally published in Gramophone Magazine, February 1977)

- Peter Glossop’s Memoir on the role of Billy Budd and working with Britten

- Complete alphabetical index of works included in the edition.

· The set is organised into 4 main sections, each with its own individual book:

The Operas; Stage & Screen; Voices; Instruments

· Each book contains a detailed article by Andrew Huth, full track listings and recording information.

· 4 bonus CDs - including a series of interviews by Jon Tolansky, first recordings and rarities never before released on CD and the War Requiem rehearsal sequence

· New War Requiem hi-res transfer from original master tapes

· The set also features the Tony Palmer film on the making of the 1967 recording of The Burning Fiery Furnace, an unrivalled look at John Culshaw and the Decca team at work