Utwory na płycie:

• Britten - Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge Op.10 for Strings Orchestra - Aria Italiana. Allegro brillante -
• Berkeley - Serenade for Strings Op.12 (1938-39) - Vivace

Benjamin Britten:
Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10

Frank Bridge:
Lament, H 117

Lennox Berkeley:
Serenade for Strings, Op. 12

Arthur Bliss:
Music for Strings, F 123

Aż samo się narzuca, aby podsumować tę płytę: 4 x B. Na okładce obraz przedstawiający dom Sir Arthura Blissa (1891-1975), który został zbudowany dla niego w 1935 roku. I to właśnie lata 30. XX wieku i ich klimat tworzą tę płytę. W tym czasie Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), Sir Lennox Berkeley (1903-1989) oraz wspomniany już Bliss tworzą znaczące dzieła z zakresu smyczkowej muzyki orkiestrowej, które ugruntowały jej styl nie tylko w Anglii. La-ment Franka Bridge’a (1879-1941) pochodzący z 1915 roku, z okresu I wojny światowej, doskonale pokazuje etap wcześniejszy. Na płycie ponadto Variations op. 10 Brittena, Sere-nade op. 12 Berkeley’a i Music for Strings Blissa. Niepokój, zbliżający się czas wojny, nie-pewna przyszłość - to wyczuwalne nuty nastrojów tej muzyki doskonale odzwierciedlone w wykonaniu. Interesujące

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During the 1930s, Bliss, Britten, and Berkeley all contributed major works to the repertoire for string orchestra, following in the footsteps of Elgar and Vaughan Williams. They are joined on this album by Frank Bridge whose Lament was composed during the First World War. This is the fourth recording by John Wilson with his award-winning Sinfonia of London. Bliss composed Music for Strings after he had completed the film score for Korda’s Things to Come, driven by his desire to compose a piece of ‘pure music’, expressing his own ideas rather than those of others.

Commissioned in May 1937 by Boyd Neel for the Salzburg Festival that summer, Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge was composed at great speed, and helped to establish the young composer’s international reputation. Dedicated to his teacher, Frank Bridge, the theme is taken from the second of Bridge’s Three Idylls for string quartet.

Lennox Berkeley composed his Serenade for Strings at Snape Maltings, where he was living with Britten in 1938 / 39. By the time of its completion the nation was at war and the music seems to reflect the composer’s anxious mood as the world faced an uncertain future.

The album is recorded in Surround-Sound, and available as a hybrid SACD. The front cover features a painting by Edward Wadsworth of Bliss’s house, Pen Pits, built for him in 1935.

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Recording: Church of S. Augustine, Kilburn, London; 9 – 11 January 2020