This is the sort of disc that makes listeners prefer old live performances on CD to new performances heard in person. Drawn from the British Broadcasting Corporation archive, the program is drawn from four concerts performed by the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Britten. The musicianship of players and conductor together--in what might otherwise be run-of-the-mill repertoire--is astounding.
Mendelssohn's 'Fingal's Cave' overture leads off, its striking opening bars providing a fitting start to the disc. The British affection for the sea leads Britten to a wonderfully evocative rendering throughout the work. Yet this masterful reading hardly prepares for what follows. The Haydn and Mozart symphonies are performed with the perfect blend of elegance and lilt, never heavy-handed and always with the underpinnings of dance which can so easily be obscured. And Debussy's 'Prélude l'aprés-midi d'un faune' is a treasure, every sonority clear and transparent, even in the live acoustic of Blythburgh Church.
Do not shy away from this disc for its somewhat odd program or lack of a "blockbuster" work--these are all must-hear performances!
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Gwyneth Herbert - All The Ghosts
Ramon Ruiz - Flamenco Havana
Mike Lindup - Conversations with Silence
Fred Simon - Dreamhouse
Earwax Control - 2 Live
Chris Anderson - From the Heart
Antonio Forcione, Neil Stacey - Acoustic Mania - Talking Hands
SCHUBERT, STRAVINSKY, MOZART, The Allegri String Quartet - Arpeggione Sonata // Three Pieces for String Quartet // Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo // Clarinet Quintet in A Major
SCHUBERT, MENDELSSOHN, The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra - Symphony No. 5 in B Flat // Symphony No.4 in A