Benjamin Britten

Michael Hurd. A major series of titles containing clear and concise accounts of the lives and music of some of the great composers. Written by leading authorities, they give students a background suff...

These two pieces were written by Britten in 1935 for the oboist Sylvia Spencer, who had played in early performances of his Phantasy Quartet, Op.2. The first performances of The Grasshopper and The Wa...

Paul Bunyan is an American synthetic folklore figure whose 'legend' was actually created as an early advertising campaign on behalf of the lumber industry. This overture was actaully dropped from the...

Duration: 8 Minutes.

Britten wrote Irish Reel in 1936 as the title music for a documentary film entitled 'Around the Village Green'. It is a bravura piece, exhibiting all the energy and strong colours typical of the compo...

Britten wrote Irish Reel in 1936 as the title music for a documentary film entitled 'Around the Village Green'. It is a bravura piece, exhibiting all the energy and strong orchestral colours typical o...

These early songs were writt en during the composer's schooldays, whilst he was studying with Frank Bridge . But even at this tender age, Britten already had such accomplished works as Quatre Chansons...

The first performance of the Songs and Proverbs of William Blake Op.74 was given by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Benjamin Britten at the Aldeburgh Festival on 24 June, 1965. Available here is Britten'...

Poems by Pushkin, with English & German translations

Five settings of poems by Walter De La Mere arranged for Medium Voice and Piano Accompaniment. These settings were written by Benjamin Britten in his childhood, and were collected together in honor of...

Music of profound beauty from one of the greatest vocal music composers of the past 100 years, set to text by T.S. Eliot. This is one of Britten's five canticles and was first performed at The Malting...

Instrumentation: Gustav von Aschenbach(T),the traveller/multiple role(B-Bar),the voice of Apollo(counter-tenor) 2(=picc).2.2(II=bcl).2 - 2221 - timp - perc(5): 2 SD/2 TD/2 BD/tuned drum/3 tom-t/3 ch.d...

These songs were written at the special wish of Her Majesty the Queen for her mother's seventy-fifth birthday, August 4th 1975. Its first public performance was given on the 9th January 1976, at Schlo...

The story of the American folk hero follows the development of the American continent from virgin forest to civilization. It does so in a deliberately eclectic style. Spoken dialogue is interspersed w...

These four songs are taken from A Birthday Hansel Op.92 which was written at the special wish of Her Majesty The Queen for her mother's seventy-fifth birthday, 4th August 1975. All of the songs are wo...

1. Beware! (Henry Longfellow from the German) 2. O That I had ne'er been married (Robert Burns) 3. Epitaph: The Clerk (Herbert Asquith)

A terrific collection that brings together nine of Britten's previously unpublished songs, written over a period of 25 years from 1935 onwards. Many were originally intended to be part of song-cyles b...

A terrific collection that brings together nine of Britten's previously unpublished songs, written over a period of 25 years from 1935 onwards. Many were originally intended to be part of song-cyles b...

Lyrics, rhymes and riddles by William Soutar for Tenor and Piano.