Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20 - CD

Recorded live for the Czech Radio at the concert of the 63rd Prague Spring International Music Festival in the Smetana Hall of the Municipal House, Prague, on June 1st, 2008 A unique and symbolic encounter: the most distinguished Czech conductor of the present time and a fabulous British orchestra communicate the profound messages in the works of great national composers. Jiří Bělohlávek has mediated Czech music to orchestras and audiences worldwide, yet in 2006 – as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra – he became above all a Londoner.

The recording at the 2008 Prague Spring festival of Suk’s Asrael and Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem will for ever serve as evidence of the extraordinary understanding between Bělohlávek and the orchestra.

The common denominator of the two works is the figure of the Angel of Death. A sad and immensely powerful inspiration for Suk was the passing away of his beloved wife Otilie and his dear teacher Antonín Dvořák.

Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem, dedicated to the memory of his parents, is one of the composer’s early masterpieces. The recording marks a symbolic leave-taking on the part of Bělohlávek, who after six intense years as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra is returning “home” to the Czech Philharmonic. Suk and Britten, Bělohlávek and the BBC Symphony Orchestra – a meeting of the powerful traditions of English and Czech classical music.

All these superb Decca recordings of the music of Britten were made in 1953. All of the few Britten recordings made by Eugene Goossens have now been released on Decca Eloquence. Remodelled on themes he wrote as a boy, the Simple Symphonys undeniable charm and charisma have ensured it a constant place in repertoire enjoyed not only by children but by adults too. Much the same goes for The Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra, and this Van Beinum recording, one of the works earliest, was something of a demonstration CD for its day. It was coupled with the Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes as well as the Passacaglia, and the latter, much requested, now receives its first issue on Decca CD. Britten recording the Sinfonia da Requiem twice, first in September 1953 with Danish forces and then more than ten years later in December 1964 with the New Philharmonia Orchestra. Andrew Porter, reviewing the earlier recording in the February 1955 issue of The Gramophone declared that it could hardly be bettered. Some 55 years on, it makes its first appearance on CD.

Jacques Abram and Julius Katchen give first performances of Britten’s two works for piano and orchestra and the composer directs the Danish State Radio Symphony Orchestra in an early recording of his Sinfonia da Requiem.

Arcadia Lost presents a feast for lovers of English music, featuring three Ralph Vaughan Williams’ masterpieces and one of Benjamin Britten’s in performances given by, mostly, Australian musicians. Renowned British conductor Mark Wigglesworth directs the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in three of the works, all recorded live at Sydney Opera House. The viola soloist in Flos Campi is Roger Benedict with the choir Cantillation, while Michael Dauth is the violinist in The Lark Ascending. Following an explosive performance of Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem, the final work is Vaughan Williams’ song-cycle On Wenlock Edge for tenor, piano and string quartet, performed by Steve Davislim with Benjamin Martin and the Hamer Quartet.

The glistening solo violin of Michael Dauth, concert master of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, captures the lark’s swirling flight in Vaughan Williams’ hugely popular The Lark Ascending. In the composer’s much less well-known Flos Campi (“flower of the field”), the SSO’s principal viola Roger Benedict gives glorious voice to this most passionate music for viola, chorus and orchestra. The Song of Solomon, one of the greatest love poems in all literature, is at the heart of this evocative piece.

In On Wenlock Edge tenor Steve Davislim brings the greatest tenderness and drama to the six settings of A.E. Houseman’s A Shropshire Lad poems, which in Michael Kennedy’s description in the booklet notes “tell of unrequited or unfaithful love and of soldiers marching away to die in foreign fields”. The brilliant young Hamer Quartet and pianist Benjamin Martin vividly underscore the tumultuous emotions of the work.