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Britten: Complete Music with Guitar & Voice / Meucci, Nardis
Brilliant Classics

Britten: Complete Music with Guitar & Voice / Meucci, Nardis

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Details

Composer
BRITTEN, BENJAMIN
Artist
Meucci, Nardis
Format
CD
Label
Brilliant Classics
Released
Oct 22, 2021
Catalog #
BRI95737
UPC
5028421957371

About

The “Songs from the Chinese”, a cycle of six songs on poems translated from the original Chinese by Arthur Waley (1889–1966), were written in 1957 and premiered the following year by the duo of Pears and Bream. By the late 50s Bream was a lutenist and guitarist of great renown and had accompanied Pears in works by Dowland and other early music of the British Isles, concerts that inspired Britten to write for the duo some music of his own. His cycle naturally invited comparison with another great set of songs from the Chinese, Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde”, and the reception at the time was favourable: “as a whole, they make a statement about life (and particularly the transience of youth and beauty) as poignant and personal as Mahler’s” (critic Jeremy Noble in Tempo,1959). The sixth instalment of Britten’s lifelong project of folksong arrangements was published in November of 1961 in a second wave along with volumes four and five, which followed some 12 years after the first three volumes were issued in the 1940s. Volume Six contains six English folksongs and is the only one of the sets that he scored for voice and guitar. These folksong arrangements are as much a product of Britten’s admiration for Bream as are the “Songs from the Chinese”. In fact, when Pears and Bream premiered Britten’s song cycle at the Aldeburgh Festival (17 June 1958), they performed three of these folksongs on the same concert. Britten wrote the guitar solo “Nocturnal” after John Dowland in 1963 for Bream, who premiered it the following year (12 June 1964). The nine movements of the work are a “variations & theme”, progressing opposite to the usual order of a theme and variations. The model, “Come, Heavy Sleep” from the First Book of Songs by John Dowland (1563–1626), is only revealed at the end, with the variations leading up to it hinting at the song with treatments of various thematic fragments. Marcello Nardis and Duilio Meucci complete this album with three additional works by Dowland including the original “Come, Heavy Sleep” on which Britten based his Nocturnal, another well-known song, “Flow my tears”, and the lute solo “A Dream”.

Tracklist 16 tracks

  1. 1 No. 1. I will give my love an apple 01:20
    Track
    1
    Title
    No. 1. I will give my love an apple
    Duration
    01:20
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Performer
    Marcello Nardis, Duilio Meucci
  2. 2 No. 2. Sailor-Boy 01:55
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 2. Sailor-Boy
    Duration
    01:55
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Performer
    Marcello Nardis, Duilio Meucci
  3. 3 No. 3. Master Kilby 01:49
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 3. Master Kilby
    Duration
    01:49
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Performer
    Marcello Nardis, Duilio Meucci
  4. 4 No. 4. The Soldier and the Sailor 02:35
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 4. The Soldier and the Sailor
    Duration
    02:35
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Performer
    Marcello Nardis, Duilio Meucci
  5. 5 No. 5. Bonny at Morn 02:42
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 5. Bonny at Morn
    Duration
    02:42
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Performer
    Marcello Nardis, Duilio Meucci
  6. 6 No. 6. The Shooting of his Dear 02:50
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 6. The Shooting of his Dear
    Duration
    02:50
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Performer
    Marcello Nardis, Duilio Meucci
  7. 7 Book of Songs, Book 1: Come, heavy sleep 04:53
    Track
    7
    Title
    Book of Songs, Book 1: Come, heavy sleep
    Duration
    04:53
    Composer
    John Dowland
    Performer
    Marcello Nardis, Duilio Meucci
  8. 8 Nocturnal after John Dowland: Reflections on Come, heavy sleep, Op. 70 19:56
    Track
    8
    Title
    Nocturnal after John Dowland: Reflections on Come, heavy sleep, Op. 70
    Duration
    19:56
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Performer
    Duilio Meucci
  9. 9 A Dream, P. 75 05:11
    Track
    9
    Title
    A Dream, P. 75
    Duration
    05:11
    Composer
    John Dowland
    Performer
    Duilio Meucci
  10. 10 No. 1. The Big Chariot 01:55
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 1. The Big Chariot
    Duration
    01:55
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Performer
    Marcello Nardis, Duilio Meucci
  11. 11 No. 2. The Old Lute 02:46
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 2. The Old Lute
    Duration
    02:46
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Performer
    Marcello Nardis, Duilio Meucci
  12. 12 No. 3. The Autumn Wind 01:15
    Track
    12
    Title
    No. 3. The Autumn Wind
    Duration
    01:15
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Performer
    Marcello Nardis, Duilio Meucci
  13. 13 No. 4. The Herd-Boy 01:22
    Track
    13
    Title
    No. 4. The Herd-Boy
    Duration
    01:22
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Performer
    Marcello Nardis, Duilio Meucci
  14. 14 No. 5. Depression 01:33
    Track
    14
    Title
    No. 5. Depression
    Duration
    01:33
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Performer
    Marcello Nardis, Duilio Meucci
  15. 15 No. 6. Dance Song 01:06
    Track
    15
    Title
    No. 6. Dance Song
    Duration
    01:06
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Performer
    Marcello Nardis, Duilio Meucci
  16. 16 Book of Songs, Book 2: Flow, my tears, fall from your springs 04:27
    Track
    16
    Title
    Book of Songs, Book 2: Flow, my tears, fall from your springs
    Duration
    04:27
    Composer
    John Dowland
    Performer
    Marcello Nardis, Duilio Meucci