Customer Reviews

Britten: Variations & Fugue / Peter Grimes- excerpts / Suite, Opp. 33a,b;34;90 (Royal Edition No. 24)

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I haven't listened previously and pitifully lately, about any other version that can beat these Four Interludes and the Passacaglia.
There are many unexplainable cases in the music where it establishes an automatic and obvuious rapport between a work and a director. Bernstein had that special gaze to seek behind the score, and even Bernstein, who was always a hyperromantic director; however in this time he caught the fundamental essence and came to the center of the dramatic nucleus of this work.
It owns that urgency character, and existential anguish, reflected admirably through the string section. Listening this performance and watching a Turner's portrait you will obtain the whole and integral concept of what it means the sharp contrast between the man and the sea, in all its greatness and extension.
A guide... has had other succesful versions that overcome it, as Dorati Minneapolis, for instance.

this recording is a decent intro to britten's orchestral works, but bernstein's direction is not definitive. here bernstein uses his typically bright and brassy sound, which is too aggressive for these works, particularly for the slow sea interludes. the NY philharmonic plays well, w/ the exception of the strings which often sound muddy (as in "hunt the squirrel" in the suite on english folk tunes).

as for the works themselves, the set of purcell variations is certainly not britten's best work and is mostly forgettable (with the exception of the fugue which is as memorable as any of his other orchestral works). the sea interludes from peter grimes, one of his first masterpieces, are of course among his most beloved works, but again, bernstein's conducting doesn't even begin to compare to britten's on the first recording of the opera. all in all this disc is worth getting if you want these works on one disc or if you want to hear the lesser-known suite on english folk tunes, which has enough moments (especially in the last movement) that it is worth getting if you are a long-time britten fan.

As a young conductor, Bernstein premiered Peter Grimes in america, with the BSO at Tanglewood. After that single event, he studiously qvoided the world's other gay, conservative composer who was also a great conductor. I don't know the story here, but these performances, unusally for Bernstein, are flat and second-rate.