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Offer,Benjamin - Into The Little Hill

World Premiere Recording

Anu Komsi & Hilary Summers, Dietrich Henschel (baritone)

Ensemble Modern, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin & Rundfunkchor Berlin, Frank Ollu, Oliver Knussen, Kent Nagano

This CD gives an excellent overview of the new Benjamin, in superb sound and performances. — BBC Music Magazine, October 2008, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 18th Aug 2008
Catalogue No: NI5828
Label: Nimbus
Length: 63 minutes

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Benjamin, G: Into The Little Hill

Work length36:58

$8.50

$11.90

Anu Komsi, Hilary Summers
Ensemble Modern
Frank Ollu

Pt. 1, I. The Crowd

Track length0:50

$1.00

$1.40

Pt. 1, II. The Minister and the Crowd

Track length2:49

$1.00

$1.40

Pt. 1, III. The Crowd

Track length1:42

$1.00

$1.40

Pt. 1, IV. The Minister and the Stranger

Track length8:32

$1.50

$2.10

Pt. 1, V. Interlude

Track length6:32

$1.00

$1.40

Pt. 2, VI. Inside the Minister's Head

Track length3:43

$1.00

$1.40

Pt. 2, VII. The Minister and the Stranger

Track length5:52

$1.00

$1.40

Pt. 2, VIII. Interlude

Track length6:58

$1.00

$1.40

Benjamin, G: Dance Figures, Nine Choreographic Scenes for Orchestra

Work length16:01

$9.00

$12.60

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Oliver Knussen

1. Spell

Track length1:25

$1.00

$1.40

2. Recit

Track length2:01

$1.00

$1.40

3. In the Mirror

Track length1:00

$1.00

$1.40

4. Interruptions

Track length2:06

$1.00

$1.40

5. Song

Track length1:24

$1.00

$1.40

6. Hammers

Track length2:03

$1.00

$1.40

7. Alone

Track length1:12

$1.00

$1.40

8. Olicantus

Track length3:28

$1.00

$1.40

9. Whirling

Track length1:22

$1.00

$1.40

Benjamin, G: Sometime Voices

Work length10:09

$1.50

$2.10

Dietrich Henschel
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Rundfunkchor Berlin
Kent Nagano

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About

George Benjamin long held the desire to write an opera but the right project never quite presented itself to him. Until the advent of Into the Little Hill, that is, which resulted from his meeting with playwright Martin Crimp. Since its premiere, given by Anu Komsi, Hilary Summers, Ensemble Modern and Franck Ollu at the Festival d’Automne in Paris last November, it has garnered acclaim from all quarters.

‘In my critical career, I’ve witnessed the birth of several fine new operas – notably those by Adams, Adès and Turnage – that have jolted me out of my underlying pessimism about the genre’s long-term future. But in all that time I have never heard or seen anything so startlingly or brilliantly original as Into the Little Hill. “Masterpiece” is not a word to fling about, but I’m tempted. Into the Little Hill specifies itself as “a lyrical tale”; “dramatic cantata” might also serve. Its duration is about 40 minutes. George Benjamin’s score is a miracle. Fifteen are used to create a hyperintense sound world. Not a note is wasted or superfluous – Benjamin’s ear is unerringly precise, and the sonorities he conjures up by combining conventional instruments with basset-horn, flugelhorn and cimbalom are quite ravishing. But this isn’t an orchestral showpiece. The vocal lines are the driving force, and although the writing is often angular and abrupt, it is also richly expressive and alluring… You may not like it – the effect is more unsettling than charming – but if you have any serious interest in opera, you simply must hear it.’ Daily Telegraph (Rupert Christiansen), 18 June 2007

Reviews

October 2008

This CD gives an excellent overview of the new Benjamin, in superb sound and performances.

2010

George Benjamin's 36-minute 'lyric tale' Into theLittle Hill taps into the rich vein of English music theatre stemming from Benjamin Britten's church parables, Alexander Goehr's Triptych and Harrison Birtwistle's smaller-scale dramas, such as The Io Passion. Martin Crimp's concise text, made even more concise by Benjamin's omissions (shown in the admirably detailed booklet) shapes a version of the Pied Piper story to highlight contemporary anxieties about fragile political and social structures.
But fragile is exactly what Benjamin's music is not. The drama's rituals are far from reassuring, and the music's eerie colours (cornets, bassethorns, cimbalom) are the stuff of rat-infested nightmare. As always with Benjamin at his best, sonic refinement and formal lucidity lay the foundations for a uniquely involving musical experience, and having the story enacted and narrated by just two singers fits the sinister expressionism of the musical style to perfection.
Instead of expansive melodic lyricism the tale demands a vocal idiom that shifts disconcertingly between fearful reticence and shrill ferocity.
The recorded sound is not in itself especially vivid, but with Anu Komsi, Hilary Summers and the 15-strong Ensemble Modern all responding to Franck Ollu's direction with razor-sharp alacrity, this unsettling piece exerts a vice-like grip.
The scene for Into the Little Hill is set by Benjamin's daringly economical portrait of Shakespeare's Caliban (Sometime Voices) and the haunting sequence of orchestral miniatures comprising Dance Figures. Both these performances are also from live concerts, and both get to the heart of Benjamin's finely balanced and powerfully sculpted sound images. This is an outstanding release.

November 2008

George Benjamin's 36-minute "lyric tale" Into the Little Hill taps into the rich vein of English music theatre… The drama's rituals are far from reassuring, and the music's eerie colours (cornets, basset-horns, cimbalom) are the stuff of rat-infested nightmare. ...with Anu Komsi, Hilary Summers and the 15-strong Ensemble Modern all responding to Franck Ollu's direction with razor sharp alacrity, this unsettling piece exerts a vice-like grip. The scene for Into the Little Hill is set by Benjamin's daringly economical portrait of Shakespeare's Caliban (Sometime Voices) and the haunting sequence of orchestral miniatures comprising Dance Figures. Both these performances... get to the heart of Benjamin's finely balanced and powerfully sculpted sound images. This is an outstanding release.

22nd August 2008

[Little Hill] is an exquisite piece, full of beguiling sounds, and retains all that magic in this recording, with the original pair of soloists, Anu Komsi and Hilary Summers...all in all, this is a remarkable disc.

Offer,Benjamin - Into The Little Hill

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