Track Listing

1. O Waly, Waly
2. 1. Nuits de juin
3. 2. Sagesse
4. 3. L'Enfance
5. 4. Chanson d'automne
6. Quand j'etais chez mon père
7. Eho! Eho!
8. 1. Poco presto ed agitato
9. 2. Andante lento
10. 3. Tarantella: Presto vivace
11. 1. Prologue
12. 2. Rats Away!
13. 3. Messalina
14. 4. Dance of Death (Hawking for the Patridge)
15. 5. Epilogue and Funeral March
16. Oliver Cromwell

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #173449 in Music
• Released on: 1999-01-12
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Benjamin Britten wrote songs throughout his life, starting at age 14 (Quatre chansons françaises) and ranging from his settings of English and French folk songs (represented here by two in each language) to longer and more complex works. The centerpiece of the disc (apart from the early and very Schoenbergian Sinfonietta op. 1) is the five-part song cycle Our Hunting Fathers. The cycle, written in 1936, was devised by W.H. Auden and reflects in obscure and disjointed fashion the polemical pacifism of the time. The episodes alternate between drama and lyricism and are generally more declamatory than melodic, using the kind of heightened speech sometimes termed sprechstimme. The settings and orchestration are strong and imaginative, and the result is very effective. Ian Bostridge (whose recording of Schubert Lieder is not to be missed) has a beautiful voice: silvery, sweet, expressive, and capable of considerable dramatic impact. His articulation in English is impeccable, less so in French (those lazy vowels!), and while his interpretations sometimes seem a little overrefined, that's the nature of the music itself. Daniel Harding and the Britten Sinfonia provide excellent accompaniments, and the sound is very good. An interesting recital, especially for Britten fans. --Alex Morin

Customer Reviews

A revelation!
Ian Bostridge is not your average tenor: his voice is plangent to the point of heart-break, and he has some of the most exquisite consonants I've hearda singer utter. Bostridge's new recordings of Britten's earliest works for voice and orchestra (Britten was 14 when he wrote the Quatre Chansons Francaises, and only 22 when he wrote Our Hunting Fathers) are as touching and revelatory as his recent Schubert and Schumann disks. Bostridge really makes Our Hunting Fathers work. For example, in the song "Rats Away!" you get a genuinesense of terror; when sopranos sing this song it becomes a study in coloratura.Bostridge performs "Messalina" slower than most sopranos, which makes the song really deliver its emotional goods: Bostridge's high B-flat on the word "Fie!" will rip right through your heart. But it's the "Dance of Death" that really raises the hair on the back of your neck: this nastily ironic song about hunting (that Britten used as a metaphor for the political scene in 1930's Europe) really seems to require a male voice. Bostridge's "Hey, dogs, hey!" makes your blood run cold. All told, some of the most astonishing singing I've ever heard. The Britten Sinfonia and conductor Daniel Harding are equally fabulous: I've never heard Britten's Op. 1 played with such conviction. If you're a Britten fan, you must own this recording!

A 2nd opinion - a striking CD
As Amazon customers may find a 2nd opinion reassuring, I will just say that I agree ..., and would add only that this very striking CD will interest more than just Britten fans. Anyone interested in lieder/mélodies (what great settings these are) or the English tenor style should have it and will understand why from the opening bars of the very first track.