No EMS this weekend

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

what was BB trying to do with his Purcell realizations ? ...... improve on the original ? make them his own ? make Purcell better known ?

The latter: the "realizations" (there are over 50 of them) are BB's workingings-out of Purcell's figured basses, providing the sort of Right Hand material that a pianist could play (rather than their having to make up their own). I think they originated in Britten's own performances with Pears (at a time when the originals were very rarely performed) and he published them in order to promote the works (by making them "easier" for the pianist) - they're not rewritings, as with BB's version of The Beggar's Opera (or even The Faerie Queene): more, "creative scholarship".

This could have been made clear in an edition of the EMS in which more recent realizations of the pieces were performed next to Britten's. (As could a World Routes comparing the gamelan Britten heard in the '50s with his adaptation for Western instruments in The Prince of the Pagodas - and a comparison with those of McPhee.)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Perhaps not off-topic, because those versions of Purcell are a bit problematic in an Early Music context these days. You could make an EMS around them, but you'd probably end up being quite critical.

Well, yes - "critical" in the sense of "analytical" rather than "slagging off": appreciating Britten's aims and achievements in context and demonstrating how subsequent scholarship has built from this achievement. This would have been quite fitting in a weekend of programmes celebrating the Man and his Music.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

would we say he was doing the same thing with the folksong settings ? or are they something else - original compositions - preserving the tunes ?

Good question - and researching my response to your earlier post made me realize how few of the Britten Purcell realisations I actually know (I thought he'd only done a dozen or so! ) I think that the essential difference between the Purcell Realisations and the Folk Song Arrangements is that with the former, BB kept to Purcell's harmonic language, filling-in the Right-Hand for a modern pianist who hadn't learnt figured bass. They're also mainly for Piano and Tenor, so sometimes require transposing from Purcell's originals (but no more than transpositions of Schubert songs between tenor and baritone, for example) and the accompanying ensembles of the originals are entirely provided by the Piano. It takes the repertoire closer to that of the Lieder, but keeps faith with Purcell's harmonic, melodic and rhythmic world. Here's Britten's realisation for Tenor and Piano of Music for a While:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg4gA8lO4tY

... and here is "the" original:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2c4jVjgei8

... an EMS special could have provided more such examples (including any where Britten is more - for want of a better word - "intrusive", if there are any).

With the Folk Songs, Britten does what any performer of the repertoire does (he's a "folk", after all ) adding accompaniments in his own style, adapting melodies etc etc. I can't resist this sublime example, which epitomizes his approach:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iho4WPKk9es

[jean]

Well, yes - "critical" in the sense of "analytical" rather than "slagging off"...

I was really thinking "slagging off", but trying to sound a bit less judgmental.

...appreciating Britten's aims and achievements in context and demonstrating how subsequent scholarship has built from this achievement.

Sounds good.

If only Catherine Bott were still here, and we could discuss it with her...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

If only Catherine Bott were still here, and we could discuss it with her...

Oh, yes - and not just Britten ...


A couple more of Britten's realisations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piNH18JhDU4

... and performances of the originals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPf-NLuCSOc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp7OIRo6Pdo

And another folksong arrangement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0eBX2Ey-ZE

... as far as I know, Britten never made his own "presence" felt so clearly in the Purcell realisations as he does at around 1'30" in the last clip.

[jean]

Thanks for posting the clips. I'll watch them all later.

[Catherine Bott]

Morning all, I just popped in from Beyond the Pale, don't want to find myself in Private Eye again but thought I should mention that earlier in the year, under the umbrella of British Composer Month, I did actually do 2 EMShows about Britten and Purcell - I suppose a)the Britten weekend was deemed too soon after the first broadcast to repeat them b) as I am now BTP they wouldn't have been repeated anyway c)the Britten weekend planners hadn't noticed them/heard them in the first place.

Best wishes, Catherine

[ardcarp]

Thanks for posting, Catherine. Being BTP makes it easier I hope!
It does strike me that if EMS could be tweaked into the Film Music blitz, it would be far easier to tweak it towards Britten's interest in 'early' music...which went far wider than just Purcell.

[doversoul1]

Morning all, I just popped in from Beyond the Pale, don't want to find myself in Private Eye again but thought I should mention that earlier in the year, under the umbrella of British Composer Month, I did actually do 2 EMShows about Britten and Purcell - I suppose a)the Britten weekend was deemed too soon after the first broadcast to repeat them b) as I am now BTP they wouldn't have been repeated anyway c)the Britten weekend planners hadn't noticed them/heard them in the first place.

Best wishes, Catherine

Thank you Catherine for reminding these programmes. I had a feeling that I’d posted something about ‘we don’t often meet Britten on the EMS’ sort of thing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02x91m3

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02x9351

…and I bet it was c). If they’d known about the programmes, they could have taken them as a starting point. What ‘they’ never heard was/is (I bet again) Early Music.

[ed] As for Purcell Realizations, for those who are not familiar with the works (like me).

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDD22058

[jean]

I see from the dates I was away when they were broadcast. I'd love to have heard them.

How is it decided how long programmes should be LAable for? Why only a week for so many, but the rest of the century for anything Melvyn Bragg's ever done?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

How is it decided how long programmes should be LAable for? Why only a week for so many, but the rest of the century for anything Melvyn Bragg's ever done?

Programmes containing Music are available only for a week; spoken text programmes (theoretically) permanently. I believe that the Desert Island Discs (?and Private Passions?) LAs have their Music excerpts removed.

[MickyD]

Continuing this Early Music/Britten topic, I don't know if any members can enlighten me, but I am absolutely certain that at some time in the dim and distant past, the BBC broadcast a recording of Britten performing a Mozart piano concerto on a replica fortepiano with a modern orchestra. Am I right or has HIP got to me completely?

[doversoul1]

Could this be it?

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/advsearch.php?composer=&work=Facets+of+Benjamin+Britten&performer=&medium=all&label=&cat=

Facets of Benjamin Britten
Recorded 1951 & 1953
Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major, K459
English Opera Group Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten (piano & conductor

[ed.] One of the CD sites vaguely mentions ‘period’

[MickyD]

Could this be it?

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/advsearch.php?composer=&work=Facets+of+Benjamin+Britten&performer=&medium=all&label=&cat=

Facets of Benjamin Britten
Recorded 1951 & 1953
Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major, K459
English Opera Group Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten (piano & conductor

[ed.] One of the CD sites vaguely mentions ‘period’

Hmm, intriguing, DS! Which of the sites exactly mentions "period"? This could well be the recording I was thinking of, but there is no mention of a fortepiano on the CD cover. I'm sure it was an experiment that Britten had thought worth exploring. If such a recording really does exist, it could easily have featured on a Britten Early Music Show!

[doversoul1]

Sorry, MickyD
I've looked it again but what it actually says is 'classical period'.

cd Universe
http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/6770185/a/facets+of+benjamin+britten.htm
Genres on Facets of Benjamin Britten CD : Classical Period, Concerto, Quartet, Song