Great Britten.Benjamin Britten: Orchestral Song Cycles * lan Bostridge with the Berlin Philharmonic; Simon Rattle, conductor * EMI Classics Tenors will forever owe a high note of thanks to the late gay British composer Benjamin Britten, since virtually every one of his many works featured a glorious role for his lover, the late tenor Peter Pears PEARS - Porcine Epidemic and Respiratory Syndrome. One of the most intriguing British singers since Pears is tenor Ian Bostridge, who takes up three prime Britten song cycles in this beautiful recording with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Simon Rattle. Bostridge shares with Pears a certain learned and austere drama that's ideally suited for the dark and haunting Serenade serenade [Ital. sera=evening], term used to designate several types of musical composition. Opera and song literature yield numerous examples of the serenade sung or played by a lover at night beneath his beloved's window; outstanding is Deh, vieni alla finestra from Mozart's Don Giovanni. In the late 18th cent. the serenade became a light instrumental suite, whose movements were numerous and short and usually included a march and a minuet. for Tenor, Horn and Strings. The French cycle Les Illuminations is likewise crisp, elegant, and gripping. |
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