BaL 12.05.18 - Britten: Winter Words Op. 52

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I've amended the OP in accordance with this.

[Beef Oven!]

They explicitly said at the end of the programme that it wasn't the Hyperion recording.

I implicitly didn't hear that. Must've been chewing on my omelette

P.S. It had nothing to do with the info in the OP, I didn't pick up on that.

[ardcarp]

I agree, but in terms of overall interpretation, it's [Britten/Pears] invaluable. When I studied it with ARJ at the Britten-Pears School, I was quite under his spell as an interpreter of this work. Some down there (locals sitting in on masterclasses) bitched to me that they thought ARJ chewed up the words a little, as if in defence of Pears' approach. I declined to comment, save for saying how much I admired his recording.

You know what it's like then, NVV. You're hired to sing St Nicolas. You say to yourself 'I an not going to sound like Pears'. Then "I - - Nic-olas"...and what comes out?

[LMcD]

Thank you for your various replies. I didn't hear the broadcast, and didn't recognize the name of the label from the programme's website. Am I right in thinking that Hyperion may reissue releases on Helios but never actually delete a recording altogether?

[Nevilevelis]

You know what it's like then, NVV. You're hired to sing St Nicolas. You say to yourself 'I an not going to sound like Pears'. Then "I - - Nic-olas"...and what comes out?

Indeed! Been there, done that in a concert with the Serenade! Insane! Worth it though - the ECO was great!

NVV

[Master Jacques]

It was indeed a refreshingly informative and open-minded presentation of the choices available for Britten's greatest song cycle - and possibly therefore his best work in any field. 'The Choirmaster's Burial' might perhaps stand as the summation of the composer's art.

I particularly warmed to the way that Kate Kennedy highlighted what each pianist and singer did specially well, working the field by contrasts rather than opposition, and left us to make our own minds up about what we were hearing, not least in the case of Ian Bostridge. She made a couple of minor errors of fact (The Rape of Lucretia was not written after Winter Words, but pre-dates it by seven years) but that hardly mattered.

Apart from the Britten/Pears, my own favourite is Daniel Norman and Chris Gould's white-hot reading, and I was pleased to hear that Ms Kennedy found the same moving qualities in it that I enjoy: but Winter Words has been blessed by so many wonderful vocal and keyboard interpreters, that it was a treat to hear thoughtfully-chosen examples of performances which I for one didn't know. Bravo!

[ardcarp]

Great post, MJ. We all seem to agree on Kate's handling of the subject. An object lesson to others?

[Mal]

... Britten's greatest song cycle - and possibly therefore his best work in any field.

Greater than Sinfonia da Requiem or Variations B&P? I'm not hearing it, at least not from this BAL. I get the impression from my guide books that it is minor Britten. It's not mentioned by Rob Cowan in his Guinness 1000 guide; for songs, he only picks Britten's "Serenade for tenor, horns and strings" as one of the "1000 greatest pieces". Rough Guide picks this as well, and adds "Les Illuminations". Penguin 2012 doesn't give Winter Words a key, Gramophone 2010 doesn't mention it at all, Third ear just mentions it as being on a disk of other songs. As someone who doesn't know Britten's song cycles at all I found this BAL rather unenlightening. I was looking for something, anything, to move me as much as the high spots of Schubert's "Winter's Journey", or Sinfonia da Requiem, but nothing grabbed me. Maybe i need to listen to a full version a few times to really get it, but the lack of general critical acclaim means I'll probably be looking at "Serenade" to start with. What do people think? Is WW a good place to start approaching Britten's songs? If not, what might be the best place to start?

[Master Jacques]

Winter Words is a bird of very different feather to the excellent orchestral song-cycles such as the comparatively early Serenade and even earlier Les Illuminations, both high-spots of the composer's youthful brilliance (just like the Sinfonia da Requiem and Bridge Variations).

It comes from the time when the composer was at the mature zenith of his career, technically and imaginatively (with Billy Budd and Gloriana just completed, and Turn of the Screw waiting in the wings). But as it is a quiet, reflective chamber work for two performers it doesn't make the "splash" of those colourful large-scale works. It is quietly shaded in browns and greys - this is "winter words" after all. None of this makes it any the less potent a work of art.

I would certainly say that it is a very good place for you to start an exploration of Britten's great song-and-piano cycles, as it focusses on one poet, is in English, and is notable (as Kate Kennedy said so well) for containing two very powerful "mini-operas" - 'The Chormaster's Burial' and 'The Convict and Boy with the Violin' - among its varied contents.

Sometimes those little grey-brown birds are the best singers!

[Mary Chambers]

It’s very many years (probably half a century!) since my passion for Britten’s vocal works first developed, but for what it’s worth the Serenade, in a live performance, was my starting point for the song cycles. I was in my late teens, I think. Winter Words came much later.

I am still enthralled by these works, however often I hear them.

[JimD]

- and possibly therefore his best work in any field.

Is it really possible/meaningful to put such a diversity of genres on a single metric?

[ardcarp]

Let us not forget the Church Parables. I think Abraham and Isaac and...in a different way...Curlew River make a good introduction to Britten's vocal writing. I've done A & I many times, and even for an audience with no experience of a 20th century musical language, the sheer drama of the piece (not to mention Britten's pacing of it) seems to draw them in.

As someone who doesn't know Britten's song cycles at all I found this BAL rather unenlightening

Mel, I think BAL has to strike a balance. It is one of R3's more specialist slots (as opposed to the 'easy listening' of Essential Classics, etc) and I guess a reviewer has to start from certain assumptions about what the listener knows....otherwise the programme would take up the whole morning! I do hope you enjoy getting to know Britten's vocal and choral music.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Let us not forget the Church Parables. I think Abraham and Isaac and...in a different way...Curlew River make a good introduction to Britten's vocal writing. I've done A & I many times, and even for an audience with no experience of a 20th century musical language, the sheer drama of the piece (not to mention Britten's pacing of it) seems to draw them in. .

To be pedantic for a moment, A&I isn't one of the "Church Parables" (which are the three chamber operas, Curlew River, The Burning Fiery Furnace, and The Prodigal Son) but one of the five "Canticles".

[ardcarp]

Oops sorry. Silly me.

[Mal]

I think one of the biggest problems, for me, is Hardy's poetry, written just before his death, in his eighties, in 1928. I find the first poem "At Day-Close in November" perplexing, starting with the lines:

Where the pines, like waltzers waiting,
Give their black heads a toss.

How are pines like waltzers waiting? Whats so interesting about waltzers waiting? Why are they tossing their heads?

I've gone to the effort of searching on the web for analyses of this poem, without much success. The most promising book I've found (on Questia) is The Complete Critical Guide to Thomas Hardy by Geoffrey Harvey. Harvey says, "Hardy’s later poetry, which he continued to write up to his death in 1928, reveals a degree of anxiety, an inclination towards the surreal, and a sense of increasing detachment, expressed through a variety of subjects and poetic forms." So I may continue reading that, if I can maintain interest.

Is it that Hardy is seeing the November light fading as extreme old age coming on, and the pines remind him of the waltzing youth he used to be, but the waltzers tosses their heads in disdain at the old man's useless memories.

So if I spend a week studying late Hardy, and another late Britten, I think I might begin to understand and like these songs. But should it take such effort? is it worth the effort? It's like trying to read Finnegan's Wake.