Benjamin Britten

.

I have just learned that it is the centenary of the year in which Benjamin Britten was born.

Britten was one of the most important British composers of the 2oth century, and probably one of the greatest composers of his time.  I was reading a biography recently, in which he was reported as having deplored the fact that he had not achieved the "simplicity" to which he aspired, and it is true that one of the characteristics of his music is a certain complexity.  (This is in strong contrast to the simplicity in the music of the more senior British composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams, which is sometimes almost too much to bear.)

Benjamin Britten has written a number of compositions that have received critical acclaim and are well loved by the British, but I can only comment on the ones that I know well, or know at least to some degree.

A Ceremony of Carols is a well-loved work, being often performed by choirs of all levels of ability at Christmastime.  Wolcum Yole comes right after the Processional.  Originally written for voices and harp, there are now transcriptions allowing for practically any sort of accompaniment.

A very well-loved piece if Britten's is the Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, a tour de force of orchestral effects.  It is in two parts: the first consists of statements of a tune of Henry Purcell by various instruments, covering practically the entire orchestral spectrum.  The second part is a set of variations on an original theme by Britten, where each variation is by a different musical instrument or family.  This, in turn, evolves into a fugue, where each section states the subject, and continues to play behind the next entry, and so forth, forming a very complex tapestry of sound, which is nevertheless transparent enough for the strands of music to continue to be distinguishable.  This fugue gradually transforms itself into a grand final re-statement of the original tune by Henry Purcell, taken from the Suite for Abdelazar, or the Moor's Revenge.  (I have written earlier on both The Young Person's Guide, and Abdelazar, which are both really interesting pieces.  I particularly like the very English original tune by Purcell.)

To Be Continued.