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Background: The medium of the orchestral song-cycle is one that much attracted Britten. The very early yet astonishingly mature Quatre Chansons Françaises and Our Hunting Fathers are coupled on this first volume with one of Britten's great masterpieces, Les Illuminations which still startles in its vivid pictorial strokes and aching sensuality.

Many composers had passed over Rimbaud's poems considering them too surrealist for lyrical settings. Britten, however, relished the opportunity to respond to their visionary, violent and sexual images. The vocal line closely follows the diversity of the text, by turns starkly declamatory, lyrical and heated.

CATALOGUE NR: 8557206
RECORD LABEL: Naxos
FORMAT: CD
PRICE: including VAT £ 5.75
RELEASE DATE: 30-Aug-2004

COMPOSER: Benjamin Britten
TITLE: Orchestral Song Cycles - volume 1
TRACKS: 4 Chansons francaises. Les Illuminations op.18. Our Hunting Fathers op.8.
ORCHESTRA: English Chamber Orchestra
CONDUCTOR: Steuart Bedford
ARTISTS: Phyllis Bryn-Julson   Felicity Lott   Ann Murray  

- Feb-2005 4 star BBC Music Mag. - Penguin Guide 3 star

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