George Benjamin: Three Inventions

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Sudden Time, originally issued as a CD single, is here reissued in the context of a range of other works which underline its distinctive textural refinement and expressive conviction. UponSilence... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Catalogue No: NI5505
Label: Nimbus
Length: 64 minutes

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Benjamin, G: Upon Silence for Mezzo-Soprano and Five Viols

Work length10:31

$1.50

$2.10

Susan Bickley
Fretwork, London Sinfonietta, London Philharmonic Orchestra
George Benjamin

Benjamin, G: Three Inventions For Chamber Orchestra

Work length16:59

$3.50

$4.90

John Wallace
London Sinfonietta, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Fretwork
George Benjamin

Invention I

Track length4:29

$1.00

$1.40

Invention II

Track length2:33

$1.00

$1.40

Invention III

Track length9:57

$1.50

$2.10

Benjamin, G: Sudden Time

Work length15:49

Album only

London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Fretwork
George Benjamin

Benjamin, G: Octet

Work length11:07

$2.00

$2.80

London Sinfonietta, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Fretwork
George Benjamin

Benjamin, G: Upon Silence for Mezzo-Soprano and Seven Strings

Work length10:28

$1.50

$2.10

Susan Bickley
London Sinfonietta, Fretwork
George Benjamin

Reviews
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Reviews

2010

Sudden Time, originally issued as a CD single, is here reissued in the context of a range of other works which underline its distinctive textural refinement and expressive conviction. UponSilence (1993) is a setting for mezzo-soprano and five viols of a poem by Yeats in which textures of exceptional subtlety reflect a response to the text which is captivating in its blend of spontaneity and stylisation. The alternative version, with the viols replaced by a septet of violas, cellos and double basses is no less imaginative, while obviously lacking the unique quality – old instruments used in an entirely viable modern way – of the original.
Three Inventions (1994) has ear-opening instrumental effects on every page, but these never detract from the essential processes of argument and cogent form-building in music perhaps more urgently expressive (especially in the third piece) than anything else of Benjamin's.
With the astonishingly precocious Octet, written in 1979, when the composer was 18, and with highly effective recordings of definitive performances, this disc is an outstanding success.

Three Inventions (1994) has ear-opening instrumental effects on every page, but these never detract from the essential processes of argument and cogent form-building in music perhaps more urgently expressive (especially in the third piece) than anything else of . With the astonishingly precocious Octet, written in 1979, when the composer was 18, and with highly effective recordings of definitive performances, this disc is an outstanding success.

July 2012

The playing of the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the composer is quite simply superlative, with some stunningly forceful playing in the second of the two continuous movements [of Sudden Time]

George Benjamin: Three Inventions

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