Release Date: 30 September 2004
Label: Naxos - Ex Select Products / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 747313220229
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: BRITTEN
Description
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)Canticles I-V The Heart of the MatterThe term 'canticle' usually refers to a hymn in scriptureor sometimes to certain psalms, but Benjamin Brittengave it a new meaning when he chose it as the title of asetting of a poem by the seventeenth-century Royalistpoet Francis Quarles, My Beloved is Mine, that hecomposed for high voice and piano in the first half ofSeptember 1947. Eventually he would write fiveCanticles, each for a slightly different instrumentation,though all of them feature the tenor voice and all werewritten with Peter Pears in mind. Britten saw them as anew form, though one with roots in the Divine Hymns ofPurcell. Each is in effect a miniature cantata with severalconstituent movements that also reflect elements ofsong-cycle, and each presents a religious (though notnecessary scriptural) text in a semi-dramatic context.Probably, however, he chose 'Canticle' as the titleof My Beloved is Mine because Quarles's words are animpassioned reformulation of words from the Song ofSolomon, itself sometimes known as a Canticle in theAnglican Church. Canticle I was written for a memorialconcert for the tenth anniversary of the death of DickSheppard (1880-1937), the Christian minister andbroadcaster, pacifist and founder of the Peace PledgeUnion. Britten and Peter Pears gave the firstperformance at this concert, at Central Hall,Westminster, on 1st November 1947. The settingdivides into four spans or sections. The stream imageryof the poem's first two stanzas is echoed in the flowing,barcarolle-like piano writing. There follows a shortrecitative that leads to a lively scherzo in canon, thecanonic writing reinforcing the imagery of mutualdependency between the poet and the beloved. The finalstanzas are treated as a warm, slow-moving epilogue,with a reminiscence of the work's opening in the piano'spostlude.Canticle II is a considerably more ambitious affair.Entitled Abraham and Isaac, it pits tenor and alto voicesagainst one another in dramatic dialogue as it enacts theBiblical story, on a text taken from the Chester MiraclePlay Histories of Lot and Abraham. Composed inJanuary 1952, the work is dedicated to Kathleen Ferrierand Peter Pears, who gave the first performance thatmonth in Nottingham, with Britten at the piano. Here theeffect is almost of a miniature opera, with dramaticgestures and strongly-formed characters. The Voice ofGod is represented as something above and beyond theindividual by the device of having both singers deliverhis words in unison. There is also a polarity of key,between the E flat of God and its opposite pole, A major,for Abraham and his obedience. The piano's arpeggiofigure, punctuating God's initial summons, proves thesource of most of the Canticle's motivic shapes. Afterthe climactic passage of Abraham's resolve to do God'swill by slaying his son, with Isaac's acquiescence in hisfate, the impending sacrifice is suddenly arrested by thereturn of God's E flat tonality, in which key the sereneepil
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Various
Various
Lully
