Composer: Benjamin Britten, Frank Bridge, Lennox Berkeley, Arthur Bliss
Orchestra: Sinfonia of London
Conductor: John Wilson
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Release: 2021
Size: 1.15 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Benjamin Britten:
Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10
01. Introduction & Theme
02. Var. 1, Adagio
03. Var. 2, March
04. Var. 3, Romance
05. Var. 4, Aria italiana
06. Var. 5, Bourrée classique
07. Var. 6, Wiener Walzer
08. Var. 7, Moto perpetuo
09. Var. 8, Funeral March
10. Var. 9, Chant
11. Var. 10, Fugue & Finale
Frank Bridge:
12. Lament, H. 117 (Version for String Orchestra)
Lennox Berkeley:
Serenade for String Orchestra, Op. 12
13.I. Vivace
14. II. Andantino
15. III. Allegro moderato
16. IV. Lento
Arthur Bliss:
Music for Strings, F. 123
17. I. Allegro moderato, enerfico
18. II. Andante, molto sostenuto
19. III. Allegro molto – Andante moderato
During the 1930s, Bliss, Britten, and Berkeley all contributed major works to the repertoire for string orchestra, following in the footsteps of Elgar and Vaughan Williams. They are joined on this album by Frank Bridge whose Lament was composed during the First World War. Bliss composed Music for Strings after he had completed the film score for Korda’s Things to Come, driven by his desire to compose a piece of ‘pure music’, expressing his own ideas rather than those of others.
Commissioned in May 1937 by Boyd Neel for the Salzburg Festival that summer, Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge was composed at great speed, and helped to establish the young composer’s international reputation. Dedicated to his teacher, Frank Bridge, the theme is taken from the second of Bridge’s Three Idylls for string quartet. Lennox Berkeley composed his Serenade for Strings at Snape Maltings, where he was living with Britten in 1938 and 1939. By the time of its completion the nation was at war and the music seems to reflect the composer’s anxious mood as the world faced an uncertain future.
The front cover features a painting by Edward Wadsworth of Bliss’s house, Pen Pits, built for him in 1935.