Britten-fest...the aftermath

[hmvman]

The weekend didn't alter my view at all - that he is both a wonderful composer and a fascinating person - but I enjoyed the forward-looking and positive nature of it. Bridcut's film Britten's Endgame is a work of art, but it is retrospective, and it was good to have a very different point of view.

I was amused by a Radio Suffolk broadcast which looked at the considerable increase in tourism Britten had brought to the Aldeburgh/Snape area. It interviewed local shopkeepers, fishermen and others unconnected with music who had nevertheless benefited from the 'Britten effect'. At the end of the interviews, when they were asked if they liked his music, almost all of them said 'No"!

Yes, that is amusing - and not particularly surprising. I was fascinated by the comment in the Bridcut film that Britten's music was criticised by other composers as being "too accessible". Not an adjective that many people would use today, I suspect!

[Serial_Apologist]

are you able to elaborate on the reasons for this dislike [only because I happen to be rather fond of it] ?

In my case the answer would be having sung in it at school, and thereby got to know the piece, and various characteristic Brittenish weaknesses it contains such as glib use of dissonance already mentioned, all too well.

[pastoralguy]

are you able to elaborate on the reasons for this dislike [only because I happen to be rather fond of it] ?

Yes, I wondered about that too. I remember having to play the violin solo at very short notice after the leader suffered a bee sting and her left hand doubled in size in 5 minutes!

[EdgeleyRob]

I'm still in the stalwart devotees section.

[Ferretfancy]

The timing of exposure to new music is so important. I was lucky to be at a school from 1947 to 1953 where one of the masters was a Britten enthusiast. I remember a small group of us tackling the Five Flower Songs without thinking them difficult. We simply didn't realise that they were so new. The same thing went for works like Rejoice in the Lamb in the school chapel, or the first Peers recording of the Serenade.

There weren't many Britten recordings to listen to back then, but nevertheless I became a firm enthusiast in my teens. I do have a few reservations from time to time, and I feel that his most lyrical and moving music was written before about 1960 and A midsummer Night's Dream. The later music is fascinating but sometimes a little too austere for me.. Perhaps Britten's extreme sensitivity to criticism began to act against him in the Aldeburgh Festival years when he was always surrounded by protective admirers who may have isolated him to some extent. How much smaller the musical world would be without works like the Frank Bridge Variations,Les Illuminartions, Our hunting Fathers, Grimes and so much more.

[Suffolkcoastal]

I think I might agree with you, but I'm interested in which works you have in mind in particular, if you don't mind naming names

Mainly the works from the later 60's to early 70's, especially The Golden Vanity, Children's Crusade, The Prodigal Son, Owen Wingrave, Canticle IV. But I also encounter it in some earlier works such as Paul Bunyan, Prelude and Fugue for 18 Strings and The Prince of the Pagodas as well as some of his church music. In some cases it seems that a sort of boredom sets in and his enthusiasm dries up. With the works from the late 60's it seems deliberate, a turning away from the grand more emotional gesture and he goes perhaps too far, and perhaps caused as some commentators have suggested, by a sense that he was by then considered rather conventional.

[ardcarp]

Slightly surprised to see The Golden Vanity in your list, SC. I've seen it done a couple of times (both by off-duty cathedral choristers) and 'boredom setting in' wasn't one of the feelings experienced by anybody...so presumably not during the creative process either. Owen Wingrave is another matter.....

[Sir Velo]

From the 1970s:

3rd Cello Suite
3rd St Qt
Phaedra
Canticle V ("Death of Saint Narcissus")
Sacred and Profane

So much for a falling off then.

[MickyD]

Would Brittenphiles please take a look at my post today on the EMS thread...I would love to be proved right.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Mainly the works from the later 60's to early 70's, especially The Golden Vanity, Children's Crusade, The Prodigal Son, Owen Wingrave, Canticle IV. But I also encounter it in some earlier works such as Paul Bunyan, Prelude and Fugue for 18 Strings and The Prince of the Pagodas as well as some of his church music. In some cases it seems that a sort of boredom sets in and his enthusiasm dries up. With the works from the late 60's it seems deliberate, a turning away from the grand more emotional gesture and he goes perhaps too far, and perhaps caused as some commentators have suggested, by a sense that he was by then considered rather conventional.

I seem to remember that there's been a similar discussion about this before - most people agreed that there had been a "falling off" in the quality of Britten's work from about 1964 - 70, but that was as far as the agreement went. Huge disagreements thereafter about precisely which works epitomized said "falling off" with one Forumista citing a piece that was another Forumista's favourites - and this forumista's "case for the prosecution" contained at least one work by Britten that a third forumista had insisted be played at his wedding, he found it so marvellous.

Which, I think, suggests that any such "falling off" has more to do with listeners' expectations of what they might wish to hear in Britten's Music, rather than in any deficiencies in the Music itself. I love the spareness of the works of the 60s - pure Musical invention; the expression intensified and cleared of anything that isn't essential to the Musical "argument"(wasn't this also the period when Britten and Pears were including Webern songs in their recitals? I think this - and the "influence" of Lutoslawski - pays dividends in Britten's Music of this period; different from the works of the '50s and '70s, but no less marvellous).

And, for what it's worth, I also prefer Owen Wingrave to, say, Albert Herring.

[Mary Chambers]

Throughout the weeked we were told that BB wanted to be a useful composer for the ordinary person, for the community, or words to that effect, which I interpreted as 'writing for the participation of amateurs', but realistically how many of his works can be performed by 'amateurs' (not meant perjoratively)? only a very small handful, surely?

He had a very strong belief that music was for everyone, not just an elite, but he meant as listeners as well as performers. He did like to involve himself with amateur performers, though. He and Pears had a music club in Aldeburgh for some years which anyone could join. They performed music for strings, and also for recorder. Imogen Holst was part of this, too.

Amateurs vary a great deal - some are very good indeed. Just about all his choral music can be performed by reasonably good amateurs. (I've done most of it, and I'm not a professional.) Has the War Requiem ever been done with a professional chorus? Not as far as I know. Amateur orchestras certainly have a go at the Sea Interludes, and the Simple Symphony was written for schools. I've heard a very good amateur performance of the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, though I think that's unusual.

The children's music is mainly for amateurs, and pieces like St Nicolas and Noye's Fludde skilfully combine professional and amateur forces so that the community feels involved.

[Hornspieler]

I still think the Frank Bridge variations was the best thing Britten ever composed.

I agree absolutely.

HS

[Richard Tarleton]

some like St Nicholas I dislike intensely

Britten and I got off to a bad start when I had to take part in Saint Nicolas at school aged 13. Apart from being mesmerised by Wilfrid Brown's tenor in the actual performance I hated it - it was compulsory, like being in the CCF, or rugby. But that was down to the grim way it was taught - Britten probably would have been appalled. As a student I gradually discovered the orchestral works, the 2nd string quartet, then the Nocturnal for guitar. Then I experienced a coup de foudre, discovering coastal Suffolk and the Maltings over Easter Week in 1972. Britten conducted the St John Passion with Pears, and two days later they performed the Holy Sonnets of John Donne in a chamber concert. This was also the week I saw my first avocets, marsh harriers, bitterns and bearded tits, drank my first Adnams..... I saw Pears several few times more, and have been to many concerts at the Maltings over the years, but that was to be my last chance to see and hear Britten.

I think the Britten w'end hit the spot for the reasons Mary states. I discovered the 3rd cello suite, and am really getting to grips with the string quartets. I'm revisiting Death in Venice. It's made little difference to my overall likes and dislikes - I'm selective about the operas, don't as a rule listen to choral music and I dislike the sound of boys' voices. But I thought they caught the spirit of place admirably, and I've timed my next visit to Suffolk to coincide with the 2014 Festival.

[Sir Velo]

Britten is such a multifarious composer that I am surprised that everyone can't find something to admire and enjoy in his music. Given the length of his career, there are bound to be considerable differences in style,range and quality in the compositions. The early (pre 1945) period has much in common stylistically with his hero Shostakovich: the Violin Concerto; Frank Bridge Variations; Sinfonia da Requiem; are all highly dramatic, intense works that may well appeal to a different set of listeners than the later, sparer works. From a personal POV, I find much to enjoy in compositions from all periods, but one does have to make the effort to meet Britten half way now and again. As the excellent John Bridcut made clear, Britten followed Auden's dictum that an artist should be "useful" to his community. With this in mind, works for amateur choirs and children should perhaps not be judged by the same rigorous scrutiny as masterpieces such as the Serenade and Budd.

[kuligin]

Why do I dislike St Nicolas so much, I suppose I just find the melodic material so trite, those repeated passages of " Nicholas was sent in answer to prayer.."

In fact I dont really like any of the "Community Music " very much, on reflection it is always the early works I prefer, Bridge Variations Serenade Grimes, thereafter he seems to me to gradually withdraw into a sparser style.

I am not against simplicity or the reduction found in the later works per se, but sadly I find them generally rather dull. I have not heard St Narcissus and look forward to hearing it in Mark Padmore's recital next month.

May be as ever repeated hearings over a period of time is the answer. The weekend of non stop Britten however just confirmed my opinions/ prejudices