These were the golden days of British broadcasting and use of pubic money that was channeled to Interview and record contemporary composers and their music.
Such a treat to hear Britten, Pears, Attenborough, Knussen and so many intelligent minds at the intersection of incipient new performance media, incredible career apices and rich cultural ferment.
Wonderful programme. This is the first time I have heard Britten's voice, quite deep and mellifluous - as enjoyable to hear as his music, of which I shall explore more. Good to see all the rare archive footage too.
'Grosszügig, gelassen, festgelegt' - sehr schön - und die eine Stunde eben vor auch ein großes Stück Dokumentationfilmkunst von früher, im Kern ungefähr ebenso. (Vielleicht noch um die - heute leider oft fehlende? - Eigenschaft 'unbedrängt' zu ergänzen.)
@@MrPhilipDa he’s now dead. He was one of the original members of the satirical Beyond the Fringe. He was from a working class background, an organ scholar at Oxford, jazz pianist, a funny man, best remembered as the foil and butt of Peter Cook. He then was lured to Hollywood where he made several successful films. His last years were dogged by debilitating bad health.
Never really cared for his War Requiem. His two greatest pieces to me seem to be Peter Grimes and Turn of the Screw, both operas seems to capture the story to a razor's edge.
Recordings don't do the Requiem Justice. Like his other work, he wrote it for a time and place, and the closer you can meet those parameters, the more magical the performance.
@@thomastereszkiewicz2241 I like Billy Budd too, though I prefer Lucretia & Midsummer Night's Dream. Lucretia has more of a Stravinsky influence. Turn of the Screw, Death in Venice & Owen Wingrave - these all have atonal and even serialist elements. I don't know why but when his operas are more modernist-influenced then they seem to become more musically cohesive and interesting. Peter Grimes I don't find that interesting, perhaps because he has less of an organizing principle or system, which is what modernism offers - in that case he was just "winging it": still impressive in parts though.
The emphasis on all the technical difficulties in the BBC's productions shows such bad judgment: who cares, a half-century later? It shows the ingrown nature of BBC culture.
With her chirpy vowels stretching over the music, a BBC continuity announcer showed utter insensitivity in interruprting those final drumbeats & orchestral refrain at the end of the best remembered melody (and there weren't so many of them) that Britten ever composed. As with Stephen Fry's programme on Wagner, an inappropriate voice over end credits sucked the life out of the closing moments of an otherwise fine tribute programme.
@@7H7GRm8jm4QCnjuQ very much influenced, I believed by both his partner Peter Pears and (I'd suggest) WH Auden. I've heard it said, too, that Pears' speaking voice voice was uncannily (Freudianly?) like his own - doting - mother.
@@robkeeleycomposer yes, I believe that’s recorded in the Carpenter biography but it was that their singing voices were very similar. Someone mentioned it to either Beth or Barbara and she in shock agreed. I think about this sort of thing when it comes to The Rape of Lucretia and the Holy Sonnets of John Donne, written within a year or two of each other following the Second World War, and Pears’ voice appears at the end as a comforter. “Death, Thou shalt die,” “It is not all... He bears our sin... and then forgives us all... in His Passion is our hope.” These could be the words of a mother at her child’s bedside
@@robkeeleycomposer I think it’s also recorded that the speaking accent was an imitation of or attempt to fit in with Auden, who was always cooler than they were
Britten came from a middle class background, his father was a dentist. You don’t expect somebody from that background then to sound like the Singing Postman.
I was lucky enough to sing St Nicholas in the composers presence at The Maltings in the 70s.
These were the golden days of British broadcasting and use of pubic money that was channeled to Interview and record contemporary composers and their music.
Such a treat to hear Britten, Pears, Attenborough, Knussen and so many intelligent minds at the intersection of incipient new performance media, incredible career apices and rich cultural ferment.
Wonderful programme. This is the first time I have heard Britten's voice, quite deep and mellifluous - as enjoyable to hear as his music, of which I shall explore more. Good to see all the rare archive footage too.
Amazing film with amazing history. well worth sitting through.
'Grosszügig, gelassen, festgelegt' - sehr schön - und die eine Stunde eben vor auch ein großes Stück Dokumentationfilmkunst von früher, im Kern ungefähr ebenso. (Vielleicht noch um die - heute leider oft fehlende? - Eigenschaft 'unbedrängt' zu ergänzen.)
Noyes Fludde.Such a work. Never leaves you. Moonlights Kingdom.
I was in the first cast of Noye's Fludde(1958) aged 11,I have very happy memories of Ben & Peter,both geniuses in their own right.
The premier was shown on the BBC in 1971 - only 5 people watched the first five minutes of it!
My high school orchestra in Toronto
Harbord Collegiate played his pizzicato piece!
Britten has a secret holiday home in our village.
So much has changed since Britten's day...for most people this documentary will just be a confirmation of how brilliant Dudley Moore was. 30:44
Who is Dudley Moore?
@@MrPhilipDa he’s now dead. He was one of the original members of the satirical Beyond the Fringe. He was from a working class background, an organ scholar at Oxford, jazz pianist, a funny man, best remembered as the foil and butt of Peter Cook. He then was lured to Hollywood where he made several successful films. His last years were dogged by debilitating bad health.
Britten endures to this day.
@@mckavitt13 nothing endures
Haha, the way the narrator pronounces "Borough," is the same way I pronounce "butter!"
I never know how to pronounce it...
Never really cared for his War Requiem. His two greatest pieces to me seem to be Peter Grimes and Turn of the Screw, both operas seems to capture the story to a razor's edge.
Recordings don't do the Requiem Justice. Like his other work, he wrote it for a time and place, and the closer you can meet those parameters, the more magical the performance.
I agree about The Turn of the Screw & less so about Grimes, but not about The War Requiem, which I much admire, even love.
Turn of the Screw, Death in Venice & Owen Wingrave : all great operas.
@@donkeychan491 what's your take on Billy Budd?
@@thomastereszkiewicz2241 I like Billy Budd too, though I prefer Lucretia & Midsummer Night's Dream. Lucretia has more of a Stravinsky influence. Turn of the Screw, Death in Venice & Owen Wingrave - these all have atonal and even serialist elements. I don't know why but when his operas are more modernist-influenced then they seem to become more musically cohesive and interesting. Peter Grimes I don't find that interesting, perhaps because he has less of an organizing principle or system, which is what modernism offers - in that case he was just "winging it": still impressive in parts though.
The emphasis on all the technical difficulties in the BBC's productions shows such bad judgment: who cares, a half-century later? It shows the ingrown nature of BBC culture.
Ohhh, baby Michael Crawford!
I really did enjoy this, thank you. Then that utter idiot of a woman chimes in and sings over the closing credits.
ComposerInUK No she didn't sing, simply spoke, but annoying yes.
With her chirpy vowels stretching over the music, a BBC continuity announcer showed utter insensitivity in interruprting those final drumbeats & orchestral refrain at the end of the best remembered melody (and there weren't so many of them) that Britten ever composed. As with Stephen Fry's programme on Wagner, an inappropriate voice over end credits sucked the life out of the closing moments of an otherwise fine tribute programme.
@@keeshond8 people with lisps you see, they are evil and should be thrown into space with 37 hours oxygen!
That idiot of a woman was paid to do so.
How posh is this guy?
He talks like Prince Charles, sounds sod all like someone from Suffolk!
Apparently it was an accent he cultivated while living in London
@@7H7GRm8jm4QCnjuQ very much influenced, I believed by both his partner Peter Pears and (I'd suggest) WH Auden. I've heard it said, too, that Pears' speaking voice voice was uncannily (Freudianly?) like his own - doting - mother.
@@robkeeleycomposer yes, I believe that’s recorded in the Carpenter biography but it was that their singing voices were very similar. Someone mentioned it to either Beth or Barbara and she in shock agreed. I think about this sort of thing when it comes to The Rape of Lucretia and the Holy Sonnets of John Donne, written within a year or two of each other following the Second World War, and Pears’ voice appears at the end as a comforter. “Death, Thou shalt die,” “It is not all... He bears our sin... and then forgives us all... in His Passion is our hope.” These could be the words of a mother at her child’s bedside
@@robkeeleycomposer I think it’s also recorded that the speaking accent was an imitation of or attempt to fit in with Auden, who was always cooler than they were
Britten came from a middle class background, his father was a dentist. You don’t expect somebody from that background then to sound like the Singing Postman.