Proms Saturday Matinee 4 - 24.08.13: English Chamber Orchestra

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

3.00pm – c. 4.30pm
Cadogan Hall

Britten 100

The English Chamber Orchestra performs two works written for the tenor Peter Pears, including Britten's Serenade for tenor, horn and strings. Plus a set of variations by multiple composers which marked the Queen's coronation in 1953.


Purcell
Chacony (arr. Britten) (7 mins)
Lutosławski
Paroles tissées (15 mins)
Britten
Serenade for tenor, horn and strings (25 mins)

Ben Johnson tenor, New Generation Artist
Richard Watkins horn
English Chamber Orchestra
Paul Watkins conductor

To mark the centenary of Benjamin Britten, the English Chamber Orchestra focus on his evocative Serenade, together with one of his Purcell arrangments. The other two works in the programme are a set of songs which Lutoslawski composed for Peter Pears, and a set of Variations written collectively for the 1953 coronation. Britten contributed one variation, and the other composers were Lennox Berkeley, Arthur Oldham, Humphrey Searle, Michael Tippett and William Walton. For this performance there are two special new additions to the set, by Tansy Davies and John Woolrich.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

"...a set of songs which Lutoslawski composed for Peter Pears..."

I never knew this.

[mercia]

the Sellinger's Round variations don't seem to figure on your list, but I see they don't on the R3 page either

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I have a confession to make. I copied it from the R3 page.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

"...a set of songs which Lutoslawski composed for Peter Pears..."

I never knew this.

First recorded (on a DECCA Headline disc) by Pears, conducted by the composer. Louis Devos, on the later EMI set, sounds astonishingly like Pears in delivery. Lutos and Britten were great friends from the 1960s until Britten's death - the influence of Lutoslawski's "collective ad libitum" techniques is heard inter alea (sorry ) in the Church Parables.

[bluestateprommer]

Shame about the lack of attention to this PSM, but this was another very fine Saturday concert again from Cadogan Hall, with the ECO and Paul Watkins on solid form. I remember vaguely that the ECO had hit some lackluster times some years back, so it's good to hear them sounding well. I thought that Ben Johnson was on stronger form in the Lutosławski than in the Britten, where I thought that he over-emoted in places. Richard Watkins (no relation to Paul, which means of course no relation to Huw either) was also on fine, fine form in the Serenade, the rare fractional near-blip aside. The new John Woolrich and Tansy Davies variations on "Sellinger's Round" slotted in pretty well with the rest, IMHO. According to CB-H's commentary, supposedly Tansy Davies may be inspired to write a new variations work at some point.

I have a confession to make. I copied it from the R3 page.

My own confession: I totally missed this PSM when I entered the details in the Forum calendar. However, in an unwitting confirmation of how little perhaps people look at the calendar, no one called me out on this omission. (It's there, entered retroactively, for completeness' sake.)