Britten To America

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Jean Rigby admirably handles the dialogue and the songs of the ambiguous mother figure in F6...the blues moments such as 'Stop all the clocks', feel a bit stiff. Mary Carewe, meanwhile, finds... — BBC Music Magazine, July 2014, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 9th Dec 2013
Catalogue No: NMCD190
Label: NMC
Length: 78 minutes

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Britten: The Ascent of F6

Work length4:05

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Mervyn Cooke, Lucy Walker, Matthew Dickinson
Jeffrey Skidmore
Recorded: 14-15 September / 03 October 2013
Recording Venue: Halle St Peters, Manchester, United Kingdom and Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, United Kingdom

Overture

Track length4:05

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Britten: The Ascent of F6, Act I

Work length11:23

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Samuel West, Mervyn Cooke, Andrew Kennedy, Jean Rigby, Lucy Walker, Nigel Woodhouse, Matthew Dickinson
Jeffrey Skidmore
Recorded: 14-15 September / 03 October 2013
Recording Venue: Halle St Peters, Manchester, United Kingdom and Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, United Kingdom

Entr'actes for Mr. And Mrs. A.

Track length0:46

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Entr'acte & Gunn's Song. The Chimney Sweepers

Track length1:20

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Ransom. O Brothers

Track length5:05

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Pantomime

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Mother's Song. Michael, You Shall Be Renowned

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Britten: The Ascent of F6, Act II

Work length17:24

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Jean Rigby, Mervyn Cooke, Andrew Kennedy, Samuel West, Lucy Walker, Nigel Woodhouse, Matthew Dickinson
Ex Cathedra Choir
Jeffrey Skidmore
Recorded: 14-15 September / 03 October 2013
Recording Venue: Halle St Peters, Manchester, United Kingdom and Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, United Kingdom

Prelude

Track length1:30

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Chant

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Climbing Music (1)

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Gunn's Song. Some Have Tennis-Elbow

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Climbing Music (2)

Track length0:35

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Cabaret Jazz Song. Forget the Dead

Track length1:40

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Ransom. O Senseless Hurricanes

Track length0:52

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Funeral March & Chorus. No News

Track length0:49

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Blues. Stop All the Clocks

Track length3:18

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Mother's Song with Chorus. Acts of Injustice Done

Track length4:23

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Chorale. Free Now from Indignation

Track length2:18

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Britten: An American in England

Work length17:36

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Samuel West, Joseph Julian
Hallé Orchestra
Mark Elder
Recorded: 14-15 September / 03 October 2013
Recording Venue: Halle St Peters, Manchester, United Kingdom and Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, United Kingdom

I. London by Clipper

Track length1:24

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II. Dover to London. War Is Not All Sound and Fury

Track length1:20

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III. Ration Island. Britains Never, Never Shall Be Slaves

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IVa. Women of Britain. London

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IVb. Women of Britain. You Walk Down to a Part of the City

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IVc. Women of Britain. Warren. To My Dearly Beloved Boy

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IVd. Women of Britain. It's a Beautiful August Morning

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IVe. Women of Britain. Within 50 Yards

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IVf. Women of Britain. Your First Factory

Track length1:29

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IVg. Women of Britain. After the Last War

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IVh. Women of Britain. You Set Out for a Training Camp

Track length1:40

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Britten: Hadrian's Wall

Work length2:23

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Mary Carewe, Huw Watkins
Recorded: 14-15 September / 03 October 2013
Recording Venue: Halle St Peters, Manchester, United Kingdom and Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, United Kingdom

Roman Wall Blues

Track length2:23

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Britten: On the Frontier

Work length23:21

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Samuel West, Jonathan Holland, Mervyn Cooke, Bruce Nockles, Lucy Walker, Matthew Dickinson
Ex Cathedra Choir
Jeffrey Skidmore
Recorded: 14-15 September / 03 October 2013
Recording Venue: Halle St Peters, Manchester, United Kingdom and Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, United Kingdom

Overture

Track length0:50

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Ad libitum

Track length1:24

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Chorus. The Clock on the Wall Gives an Electric Tick

Track length4:07

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Prisoner's Monologue. Industrialists, Bankers, in Comfortable Chairs

Track length2:10

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Fanfare (1)

Track length0:38

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Moderato

Track length0:26

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Fanfare (2)

Track length1:08

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Chorus. Marching Songs. Brightly the Sun on Our Weapons Is Gleaming

Track length1:23

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Chorus. Ostnian National Anthem

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Waltz. The Papers Say There'll Be War Before Long

Track length4:33

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Journalists' Song. We Fly to a Cabinet Crisis

Track length0:52

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Interlude

Track length2:52

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Chorus. To Build a City

Track length2:33

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Britten: Britain to America

Work length2:06

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Mary Carewe
Hallé Orchestra
Mark Elder
Recorded: 14-15 September / 03 October 2013
Recording Venue: Halle St Peters, Manchester, United Kingdom and Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, United Kingdom

Where Do We Go from Here?

Track length2:06

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What better way to mark the end of Britten's centenary than release some unrecorded works, the majority of which haven't been heard since they were performed in the 1940s? This is Britten with a difference - there are large sections of blues, jazz, a 'Tibetan' chant, a Bach chorale and even a ukulele number!

Britten made the hazardous journey from the United States back to England in the spring of 1942. Within a few weeks he had faced a Tribunal exempting him from military service as a conscientious objector. In his statement to the Tribunal he had said “I believe sincerely that I can help my fellow human beings best, by continuing the work I am best qualified to do”, and almost immediately he began giving concerts with Peter Pears in towns, rural villages and prisons. He also wrote three major scores for radio propaganda programmes: first Appointment, a BBC drama set in an internment camp in France: then An American in England, six programmes about wartime conditions in England produced by the BBC for live transmission in the USA by CBS; and lastly Britain to America, three programmes as part of a weekly transmission by NBC.

The last of these was completed by January 1943; in spite of the speed with which they were written, the music is elaborate and dramatic – the composer is clearly limbering up for Peter Grimes, whose libretto was evolving during this period.

Britten first met Dennis Brain who was playing as principal horn of the RAF Orchestra in An American in England. “I took every opportunity to write elaborate horn solos”, Britten said. A few months later he had composed the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings.

The British actor Samuel West has appeared in the movies Van Helsing, Iris, Notting Hill, Howard's End and Jane Eyre; he is frequently seen on stage for the Royal Shakespeare Company and also regularly heard in radio dramas.

Reviews

July 2014

Jean Rigby admirably handles the dialogue and the songs of the ambiguous mother figure in F6...the blues moments such as 'Stop all the clocks', feel a bit stiff. Mary Carewe, meanwhile, finds freedom in 'Where do we go from here'...Plenty of food for thought and pleasure to be had here.

4th January 2014

Unexpected postscript to the composer’s centenary shows his versatility and completes the picture of his formative years

March 2014

All the participants are excellent, especially actor Samuel West playing a portrait gallery of characters, and NMC's production standards are impeccable, rolling together spoken word, choruses and instruments so that the seams never show. A disc of incidental music should not be as much fun.

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Britten To America

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