Britten: The Canticles; Ian Bostridge, David Daniels

Ian Bostridge (Artist), David Daniels (Artist), Christopher Maltman (Artist), Julius Drake (Artist), Aline Brewer (Artist), Timothy Brown (Artist), Benjamin Britten (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 5, 2002)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B00005UV9G
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #44,603 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #55 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( B ) > Britten, Sir Benjamin
  #66 in	Music > Opera & Vocal > Vocal Non-Opera > Songs & Lieder > Folk Songs

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If you were assembling a latter-day dream team for a package program of all five Britten Canticles, this would probably be it. With one or two exceptions, it delivers everything you'd want. Ian Bostridge--the most literate tenor on God's earth--was born to sing this repertory, observing subtleties of text and niceties of diction without compromise to the beauty of fine-spun legato lines. David Daniels, an accomplished actor, sings the boy in Abraham and Isaac with exactly the right mix of pathos and restraint. Christopher Maltman provides the vocal equivalent of lithe, young, gym-toned muscularity in "Journey of the Magi" and the group of folk-song settings that pad out the disc. And Julius Drake homes in as if by instinct on what really tells in the accompaniments: a figure here that signals something to the voice, a chord there that transforms the color of a phrase. The two supporting instrumentalists (Timothy Brown, horn, and Aline Brewer, harp) add to the pleasure of it all. Just one reservation: Bostridge doesn't quite have the climactic roar of joy required for "My Beloved Is Mine" or the authoritative weight for Abraham, and Daniels can sound womanly, as well as overartful in the folk songs (although not everyone feels comfortable with countertenors singing folksongs). And in any case, it's not enough to counter the outstanding virtues of the disc. --Michael White

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Britten's Canticles - Bostridge, Daniels..., November 10, 2002

By	David M. Key (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews

A CD of the year to be sure! Another fine example of Bostridge being at the fore-front of Britten interpretations. His singing, as we have now come to expect, is so refined and detailed and full of warmth. The use of the countertenor is another example of pure genius on Britten's part looking back to the vocal spirit of Purcell's 'Golden Age' of Music, and is exemplified in Canticle No. 2 'Abraham and Isaac.' The Canticles are masterpieces in their own right and the combination of Bostridge, Daniels and Maltman confirms their exquisite splendor throughtout.
The CD ends with a collection of very fine Folksong Arrangements from the 'British Isles' with excellent singing from all: Ian Bostridge~tenor, David Daniels~countertenor, Christopher Maltman~baritone and not to mention very fine intrumental playing from Timothy Brown~horn, Aline Brewer~harp and the wonderful Julius Drake~piano.
A highly anticipated CD and well worth adding to the collection...

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite Singing in Lesser Known Britten, December 26, 2002

By	Christopher Forbes "weirdears" (Brooklyn,, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This may be the vocal CD of the year. Bostridge, Daniels and Maltman sing this repertoire with all of the conviction of the original London recordings. And the Canticles themselves are pinnacles of Britten's vocal art.

Neither art songs nor operatic scena, in the Canticles Britten fashions his own vocal form, based in part on the extended Baroque solo cantata as realized by Purcell. Each Canticle is based on a poem with religious overtones, and set with sensitivity to the prosody and shades of meaning conveyed by the poet. The first Canticle, set to a parody of the Song of Songs by Anglican poet Frances Quarles, is fashioned in the most Purcellian manner of the Canticles, complete with Baroque devices like the canon and the ground bass. Each stanza is given a different form, almost like a suite, though unified by melodic material. The second stanza is a setting of the story of Abraham and Isaac from the Chester Miracle plays for tenor and countertenor (originally for alto, the tendency now is to use countertenor.) The work is dramatic, a mini-scena with many sections forcasting a very different setting of this story in the War Requiem. Canticle III is composed for tenor and horn and uses the very beautiful Sitwell poem, Still Falls the Rain. Britten's music matches the deep pathos of the poem. The final two Canticles use poetry by T.S. Eliot. They are in Britten's late style, tonal and yet austere and richly dissonant. Canticle V in particular has overtones of the music Britten would use for his final operatic masterpiece, Death in Venice.

The performances on this CD are stupendous. Ian Bostridge is probably the finest interpreter of English art song alive today. His attention to diction, nuance of text, beauty of tone and intelligence make these for me even better than the marvelous Peter Pears performances of these works. David Daniels is the finest countertenor working today. His tone is honey-sweet but never weird or cloying as Alfred Deller could be. And he strikes the perfect tone as Isaac, both childlike and saintly. Maltman too is in fine form in Canticle IV. The instrumentalists are also superb. Special mention goes to Julius Drake, who is a technically brilliant and sensitive accompanist in music that sounds simple but is deceptively tricky.

The disc is rounded out by several of Britten's beautiful settings of English folk songs. A marvelous way to end a truly spectacular vocal disc.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Benjamin Britten and English as a Musical Language, January 21, 2007

By	Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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Benjamin Britten was a prolific composer who managed to conquer every range of musical writing - chamber works, symphonies, operas, big choral works, song cycles for both soloist and orchestra and soloist and piano, children's works, ballets, works for amateur performers (such as the Church Parables), concerti, and works for solo instruments. There are few composers even today who understood the complexities of the English language as a source of lyrics as did Britten and though all of his works are penultimate examples of this talent, surely the Five Canticles are the zenith of this gift.

The Canticles were composed over a thirty-year period (1947 - 1974) and are a microcosm of Britten's development as a composer and philosopher. The five works are all inspired by religious themes and yet they also can be seen as occult references to Britten's own homage to his sexual proclivity. Here the canticles are sung impeccably by Ian Bostridge, tenor, David Daniels, countertenor, and Christopher Maltman, baritone and the series is beautifully united by the pianism of Julius Drake (with collaboration of harpist Aline Brewer and horn player Timothy Brown). To review each canticle would take far too much space, but at least some mention must be paid to the opening of the second canticle (Abraham and Isaac) in which the voice of God telling Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son is intoned by close harmony duet by Bostridge and Daniels: the effect is ethereal and wholly spiritual. Each of the five canticles is successful on every level.

Accompanying the Canticles are seven of Britten's Folksong arrangements and each of the three singers is given time and interpretive flair for each one. It would be difficult to imagine three better matched singers than Bostridge, Daniels, and Maltman - three artists who continue to grow in stature (these recordings were made in 2001). This CD contains some of Britten's more difficult works - but also some of his most sublime. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, January 07