Kildea's book on Britten

[amateur51]

The serialisation (or rather snippets) of Kildea's book on Radio 4 has omitted Turn of the Screw, Midsummer Night's Dream and War Requiem! The announcement at the start of this final part did at least say that Kildea's syphilis theory was 'hotly contested', which is putting it mildly.

It seemed to me to be a strange choice for serialisation and so it proved on listening to it.

[Sir Velo]

To my surprise I have actually enjoyed what I heard. Of course it is ridiculously compressed and there are glaring omissions but it has whetted my appetite. Alex Jennings does a nice line in imitation of Britten; though I did bristle at the description of Bridge as "an almost completely neglected composer nowadays".

[amateur51]

To my surprise I have actually enjoyed what I heard. Of course it is ridiculously compressed and there are glaring omissions but it has whetted my appetite. Alex Jennings does a nice line in imitation of Britten; though I did bristle at the description of Bridge as "an almost completely neglected composer nowadays".

I bridled at that too, Sir Velo

[EnemyoftheStoat]

This thread seems to be going down the bridle path.

[Richard Tarleton]

He would have struggled to get onto Orford Ness - it was only handed over to the National Trust in 1996 !

You (he) could have walked a good way down the spit from Aldeburgh without going onto the MoD (now NT) bit.....

[Mr Pee]

An overview here of four different Britten books, including Kildea's:-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/9854826/Benjamin-Britten-the-Englishman-who-saved-music.html

[VodkaDilc]

There is an original and provocative review of the book in today's Guardian by Philip Hensher, who is obviously not Britten's greatest fan. Too many interesting thoughts to quote here, but here are some examples:

"The key postwar English composer of operas? Birtwistle. By a mile."

Referring to Noye's Fludde: "But the final product is radiant and worth 10 War Requiems."

"The War Requiem is by no means among his best pieces. .... Its music is often worryingly thin in resource and invention."

"He grew up an ugly, talented child in East Anglia."

Definitely a review to cut out of the paper and keep with the book. (it's conveniently on a single whole page in the Review section.)

[jean]

Too many interesting thoughts to quote here...

Read the whole thing here.

[amateur51]

Read the whole thing here.

Thanks jean. My first thought is that it lacks focus and objectivity.

Sadly that is my second thought too

I finished wondering how much of Britten's music Hensher knows.

[VodkaDilc]

Read the whole thing here.

Thanks Jean. I was going to do that (for non-Guardian people), but got carried away reading the review again.

[VodkaDilc]

I finished wondering how much of Britten's music Hensher knows.

I think he knows it well (I'm sure I've read his opinions of Britten before this), but he obviously does not like some of it.

[amateur51]

I think he knows it well (I'm sure I've read his opinions of Britten before this), but he obviously does not like some of it.

I suspect that Britten wasn't the sort of gay man that Hensher approves of. There's too much unresolved complexity, something which apparently Neil Powell addresses in his new Britten biography.

[VodkaDilc]

I suspect that Britten wasn't the sort of gay man that Hensher approves of. There's too much unresolved complexity, something which apparently Neil Powell addresses in his new Britten biography.

As Hensher puts it:
Britten's sort of tennis-playing, English provinces, not-us-we're-normal, prep-school cold-shower brand of homosexuality was, in the end, at odds with Auden's deep-thinking, sophisticated, cosmopolitan brand.

[amateur51]

As Hensher puts it:
Britten's sort of tennis-playing, English provinces, not-us-we're-normal, prep-school cold-shower brand of homosexuality was, in the end, at odds with Auden's deep-thinking, sophisticated, cosmopolitan brand.

Well I would never go to Suffolk in search of cosmopolitan things/people

Benjamin Britten, second rate because ... he wasn't W H Auden?

[Mary Chambers]

Hensher was writing much the same article years ago. He seems to loathe Britten. (The comments online are worth reading.) I can't work out what motivates him. In fact the librettos and poetry that Auden wrote for Britten are quite unsuitable for setting to music. That Britten succeeded to some extent in Paul Bunyan and a few smaller pieces( is a measure of his ability, but thank goodness he eventually went for something simpler and less verbose. As Neil Powell says in his recent book, Auden just didn't understand Britten. It's a pity Powell's book has been so completely overshadowed by Kildea's, because although it isn't groundbreaking in any way it contains some sensitive insights into Britten's character.

I have just entirely accidently seen Paul Kildea interviewed on the BBC News Channel's Meet the Author, a brief item that tends to be at about quarter to the hour. It will probably come up again today. It was too much to hope, of course, that neither boys nor syphilis would be mentioned. Apparently the doctor who Kildea says told him the syphilis story is working on his case. He backtracked a little about how the surgeon came to the conclusion he apparently did (if the gossip is correct), but stood by his theory. He didn't mention - perhaps was unaware of - the negative blood tests that Britten's cardiologist told Robert Saxton about. (Last week's Music Matters.) I have an idea we will hear more of this.

It's on NOW.

PS I don't think Britten was an ugly child, but why would it be relevant anyway?!