Customer Reviews

Britten: Our Hunting Fathers; Quatre Chansons Françaises; Folksongs; Simfonia

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Ian Bostridge is not your average tenor: his voice is plangent to the point of heart-break, and he has some of the most exquisite consonants I've hearda singer utter. Bostridge's new recordings of Britten's earliest works for voice and orchestra (Britten was 14 when he wrote the Quatre Chansons Francaises, and only 22 when he wrote Our Hunting Fathers) are as touching and revelatory as his recent Schubert and Schumann disks. Bostridge really makes Our Hunting Fathers work. For example, in the song "Rats Away!" you get a genuinesense of terror; when sopranos sing this song it becomes a study in coloratura.Bostridge performs "Messalina" slower than most sopranos, which makes the song really deliver its emotional goods: Bostridge's high B-flat on the word "Fie!" will rip right through your heart. But it's the "Dance of Death" that really raises the hair on the back of your neck: this nastily ironic song about hunting (that Britten used as a metaphor for the political scene in 1930's Europe) really seems to require a male voice. Bostridge's "Hey, dogs, hey!" makes your blood run cold. All told, some of the most astonishing singing I've ever heard. The Britten Sinfonia and conductor Daniel Harding are equally fabulous: I've never heard Britten's Op. 1 played with such conviction. If you're a Britten fan, you must own this recording!

As Amazon customers may find a 2nd opinion reassuring, I will just say that I agree ..., and would add only that this very striking CD will interest more than just Britten fans. Anyone interested in lieder/mélodies (what great settings these are) or the English tenor style should have it and will understand why from the opening bars of the very first track.