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| The Red House, Aldeburgh (Photo: Britten Pears Arts) |
Highlights of this very special weekend (Friday-Sunday, 4th-6th December) honouring the 50th anniversary of Britten’s death include performances of the composer’s Lachrymae, Saint Nicolas and the Oboe Quartet together with a special study session by Dr Lucy Walker and an opportunity for a moment of stillness and reflection with a service of remembrance at Aldeburgh Church.
Two outstanding artists Timothy Ridout (viola) and James Baillieu (piano) offer what promises a spirited start to the weekend with a noonday performance (Friday, 4th December, Britten Studio) of Schubert’s highly popular Arpeggione Sonata and Britten’s Lachrymae, a lovely and inviting piece comprising variations on music by John Dowland. Completing the programme is Schubert’s Sonatina No.1, an attractive piece reflecting the graceful and lyrical influence of Mozart.
The evening show (Britten Studio, 7pm) features cellist Guy Johnston and pianist Melvyn Tan performing a recital featuring Britten’s Cello Sonata (written for Mstislav Rostropovich) heard alongside Mendelssohn’s Cello Sonata No.2. The programme also includes Beethoven’s Sonata No.4 and a new work from Matthew Kaner, a composer known for his emotionally direct and poetic music.
An expert on the life and works of Britten, writer, researcher and speaker, Dr Lucy Walker, chairs what promises to be a fascinating study session (Saturday, 5th December, 11am, Britten Studio). She’ll be joined in conversation by Alice Coote and Timothy Ridout exploring the profound impact and performance that Britten’s music has had upon them.
And performing Schubert’s great and inspiring song-cycle, Winterreise (Saturday, 5th December, 4pm, Britten Studio) falls to mezzo-soprano, Alice Coote, accompanied by pianist, Christian Blackshaw. The work highlights the composer’s gift of transforming poetry into music combining them into an artform of intense emotional resonance. Written to poems by Wilhelm Müller, the scenario tells the painfully sorrow and emotional story of a rejected lover who wanders alone through a cold, harsh winter landscape.
Under the baton of Owain Park, the joint forces of Britten Sinfonia, BBC Singers, Britten Pears Chamber Choir and London Youth Choir / LYC Boys (Saturday, 5th December, 7pm, Snape Maltings Concert Hall) combine to perform Britten’s cantata, Saint Nicolas, a tender and uplifting work featuring some of the composer’s brightest and boldest music with the scenario telling the tale of the saint that inspired Santa Claus.
The programme also includes Britten’s tribute to fellow composer and teacher, Frank Bridge, as well as Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, a mournful, six-minute piece for string orchestra and tolling bell. Written in 1977 after Britten’s death, the piece uses a descending A minor scale and a bell toll to create a profound sense of inevitable, cascading grief.
The following day (Sunday, 6th December, 12 noon, Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh) oboist Nicholas Daniel teams up with Jaqueline Shave (violin), Judith Busbridge (viola) and Caroline Dearnley (cello) for a performance of Britten’s Phantasy Quartet written in 1932 when the composer was just 19 years old studying at the Royal College of Music garnering him early critical attention while stamping his professional reputation. The programme also includes Mozart’s Oboe Quartet plus a couple of relatively new works: Huw Watkins’ Oboe Quartet, which received its première earlier this year and Jacqueline Shave’s haunting and thought-provoking take on traditional tunes.
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| Benjamin Britten & Peter Pears at Snape Maltings (Photo courtesy of Britten Pears Arts) |
A celebration of East Anglia’s young musicians promises to light up the Snape Maltings stage in an inspiring end-of-term showcase (Sunday, 6th December, 7pm, Snape Maltings Concert Hall) highlighting the region’s upcoming musical talent. Therefore, one can expect vibrant performances by some of the region’s finest young bloods.
The following weekend (Saturday, 12th December, 7pm, Snape Maltings Concert Hall) Britten’s Canticles, comprising five miniature cantatas modelled on Purcell’s divine hymns, contrasting and blending religious and secular poetry, were written for Peter Pears and close collaborators.
They’ll be performed by a superb roster of singers and instrumentalists of the likes of Allan Clayton (tenor), Iestyn Davies (countertenor) and Peter Brathwaite (baritone) with James Baillieu (piano), Olivia Jageurs (harp) and Richard Watkins (horn). Intimate and spiritually-charged pieces reflecting Britten’s interests in poetry, religion and the human condition, they chart his musical evolution over an almost thirty-year period.
As a curtain-raiser to the Britten Weekend (20th-21st November), the Master of The King’s Music, Errollyn Wallen, premières her new work at Orford Church entitled A Christmas Miracle inspired by Britten’s unrealised community opera, A Christmas Sequence.
A dramatic story of lives that transcend time and generations, the work hosts a plethora of well-loved Christmas carols for audience members to participate in. Described by the composer as an ‘all-embracing musical adventure’, A Christmas Miracle (developed by Mahogany Opera and co-produced by Britten Pears Arts with support coming from Jubilee Opera and Orkney Music and Culture) sees Britten’s plans for an intergenerational performance of the Christmas story come to fruition.
Director Frederic Wake-Walker collaborates with Errollyn Wallen for the third time following The Lighthouse Wave and Dido’s Ghost and together they have created a piece that combines high levels of community participation with more complex material for professional artists.
Taking the role of the Angel Gabriel are sopranos Hilary Cronin and Emma Tring while countertenor Andrew Watts is seen as Herod with mezzo-soprano Idunnu Münch (Melchior), baritone Robert Gildon (Balthasar) and actor/singer Nick Mercer (Preco/MC).
Conducted by John Andrews, A Christmas Miracle, scored for ten instrumentalists, will be performed by musicians from Ensemble X on Friday 20th November 6.30pm with a couple of performances on Saturday 21st at 3pm/6.30pm.
Further information from the Britten Pears website. See also their Remembering Britten website.
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