Britten: On this Island, Op. 11

The greatly sought-after tenor, James Gilchrist, continues his highly acclaimed exploration of British song with his new recording of Benjamin Britten works.

His 2010 recording of Leighton Earth, Sweet Earth…(laudes terrae) and Britten Winter Words was called ‘outstandingly accomplished’ by Gramophone.

‘On This Island’ is strikingly fresh and Gilchrist sings these beautiful poems with a graceful insight.

Contrasting this opening set, Gilchrist gives a moving and heartfelt performance of Britten’s dark and profound song cycle ‘The Holy Sonnets of John Donne’.

My Beloved is Mine ends with what Peter Pears called ‘Britten’s finest piece of vocal music to date’; a psalm-like poem with energetically evolving rhythms and beautiful harmonies.

James Gilchrist has appeared with many of the world’s prestigious ensembles and under several leading conductors; he recently performed with Retrospect Ensemble for their recording with Linn Records, J. S. Bach Easter & Ascension Oratorios.

James is sought after for operatic roles, ensemble performances and as a respected recitalist.

Anna Tilbrook is one of Britain's most exciting pianists, with a considerable reputation in song recitals and chamber music. She made her debut at Wigmore Hall in 1999 and has since become a regular performer at Europe’s major concert halls and festivals.

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

Camilla Nylund made her debut in 1995 as Micaëla in Hanover, where she was immediately offered a contract through 1999. She has appeared there as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Pamina, Fiordiligi, Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann, Marie in The Bartered Bride, Agathe in Der Freischütz, Eva in Die Meistersinger, the Countess in Capriccio, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Mimi and Lisa in Léhar's The Land of Smiles.

The current recital features a sampling of Ms. Nylund's expressive mastery of the Lied, Chanson and Song repertoire and presents a choice sampling of music of her Finnish countrymen, Sibelius and Kuula.

Benjamin Britten was born on the day of the Patron Saint of Music – St. Cecilia – 22nd November in 1913 in Lowestoft. He showed remarkable skill at composition from his earliest days. In 1924 he met Frank Bridge (1879-1941), a fine composer in his own right, and became his pupil; through him he developed an appreciation of contemporary music with scores by Bartók and the Schönberg school, particulary Berg.

In 1930 he entered the Royal College of Music and developed the pianistic skills which made him such a brilliant interpreter of both his own music and other greats particularly Mozart and Schubert. From these times date the beautiful A Hymn to the Virgin, Quatre Chansons Françaises and the Sinfonietta, his official Op. 1. He visited Vienna in 1934 and saw Wozzeck but family resistance prevented him studying with Berg (who, in any case, died from blood poisoning caused by an insect sting a year later).

He worked for some years in the film unit of the General Post Office where he met W.H. Auden whose poetry inspired the brilliant song cycle Our Hunting Fathers. The experience in the film unit enabled him to develop the expressive immediacy and technical abilities – often using small and unconventional resources – which would assist his composition of operas in the years to come.

In 1939 he decided to follow Auden to America, accompanying him was the tenor Peter Pears (1910-1986) who was to be the inspiration behind so many great operatic roles and song cycles. There he composed the Sinfonia da Requiem, the Michelangelo Sonnets and the First Quartet. His first opera, Paul Bunyan, to an Auden libretto, was also composed there but then withdrawn (it was revived for the Aldeburgh Festival in the year he died).

He started to get the pangs of homesickness especially when he read, by chance, an article by E.M. Forster on the Suffolk poet Crabbe (whose work was to lead to arguably his greatest success) and he returned to England in 1942. He wrote A Ceremony of Carols and Hymn to St. Cecilia (another Auden text) during this year.

For British Opera the date 7th June 1945 will always remain a red-letter day as it heralded the premiere of a masterpiece, Peter Grimes. The triumph not only established Britten as Purcell’s successor as Britain’s greatest music dramatist but its numerous performances abroad showed that Britain had an international composer celebrity.

The Rape of Lucretia was premiered the following year as was the work by which Britten is probably best remembered – certainly by thankful schoolchildren for their guide to the Orchestra. Here he subjects the theme by Purcell to a series of ingenious variations played by each member of the orchestra and then as groups and finally a fugue where everything comes together in a simply unforgettable coda.

Indeed when one examines Britten’s output it is hard not to credit him with at least one work of genius, if not a masterpiece, virtually every year for the rest of his composing life – whether it be an opera, for example The Turn of the Screw in 1954 or A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1960; a choral work, for example Spring Symphony in 1949 or the War Requiem in 1961, a large vocal work, for example Serenade for tenor, horn and strings in 1943, Nocturne in 1958 and Phaedra in 1975; a smaller vocal work, for example the Canticles of 1947, 1952, 1954, 1971 & 1974; the works he wrote for Mstislav Rostropovich – the Cello Sonata in 1961, the Cello Symphony in 1963 and the three Solo Cello Suites in 1964, 1967 & 1971; the two remaining string quartets in 1945 & 1975 and a full length ballet The Prince of the Pagodas in 1956.

Besides setting many classic poets from Britain including Blake, Burns, Coleridge, Donne, Hardy, Keats, Jonson, Milton, Owen, Shakespeare, Shelley, Spenser, Tennyson and Wordsworth he also set texts in French (Hugo, Rimbaud and Verlaine), Italian (Michelangelo), German (Hölderlin) and Russian (Pushkin). He was also partly responsible for the reawakening of interest in the music of his great predecessor, Henry Purcell by making realizations of a large number of his works. He also launched the music festival in his adopted town of Aldeburgh.