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Special offer. Benjamin Britten

Heather Harper (soprano), Robert Tear (tenor)

Northern Sinfonia Orchestra, ECO, Sir Neville Marriner, Jeffrey Tate

Benjamin Britten

Awards:

Tear's Serenade and Nocturne are sterling performances, fervent and expressive without falling into preciousness. Harper's passionate Illuminations makes a strong case for a female voice in...

BBC Music Magazine, May 20064 out of 5 stars

More reviews

Special offer. Benjamin Britten

Heather Harper (soprano), Robert Tear (tenor)

Northern Sinfonia Orchestra, ECO, Sir Neville Marriner, Jeffrey Tate

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Original price ($13.00) Reduced price $10.00

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$10.00

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Awards:

Tear's Serenade and Nocturne are sterling performances, fervent and expressive without falling into preciousness. Harper's passionate Illuminations makes a strong case for a female voice in...

BBC Music Magazine, May 20064 out of 5 stars

More reviews

About

Contents and tracklist

Britten: Les Illuminations for high voice and string orchestra Op. 18 (1971 Digital Remaster)
Work length21:49
I. Fanfare
Track length2:07
II. Villes
Track length2:30
IIIa. Phrase
Track length1:07
IIIb. Antique
Track length2:05
IV. Royauté
Track length1:40
V. Marine
Track length0:59
VI. Interlude
Track length2:14
VII. Being Beauteous
Track length3:59
VIII. Parade
Track length2:39
IX. Départ
Track length2:29
Britten: Serenade for tenor, horn and strings Op. 31 (1971 Digital Remaster)
Work length24:55
Prologue (horn solo)
Track length1:24
1. Pastoral: The day's grown old (Charles Cotton)
Track length3:44
2. Nocturne: The splendour falls on castle walls (Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
Track length3:28
3. Elegy: O Rose, thou art sick (William Blake)
Track length4:30
4. Dirge: This ae nighte (anon. 15th century)
Track length3:25
5. Hymn: Queen and huntress (Ben Jonson)
Track length2:02
6. Sonnet: O soft embalmer of the still midnight (John Keats) [horn tacet]
Track length4:44
Epilogue (horn solo)
Track length1:38
Britten: Nocturne, Op. 60 for tenor, obbligato instruments and strings
Work length27:29
On a poet's lips I slept (Shelley)
Track length3:31
Below the thunders of the upper deep (Tennyson) (Robin O'Neill, bassoon)
Track length3:29
Encinctured with a twine of leaves (Coleridge) (Thelma Owen, harp)
Track length2:13
Midnight's bell goes ting, ting, ting, ting, ting (Middleton) (Frank Lloyd, french horn)
Track length2:24
But that night when on my bed I lay (Wordsworth) (David Corkhill, timpani)
Track length3:03
She sleeps on soft, last breaths (Owen) (James Brown, cor anglais)
Track length4:38
What is more gentle than a wind in summer? (Keats) (William Bennett, flute; Thea King, clarinet)
Track length3:01
When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see (Shakespeare)
Track length5:10

Awards and reviews

May 2006

Tear's Serenade and Nocturne are sterling performances, fervent and expressive without falling into preciousness. Harper's passionate Illuminations makes a strong case for a female voice in these fevered poems. Civil, Marriner and Tate provide atmospheric support.
4 out of 5 stars
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