From ‘Fish in Unruffled Lakes’
Sechs Hölderlin-Fragmente
Holy Sonnets of John Donne
Cabaret Songs
Tit for Tat
Beware!
Lilian
The Joy of Grief
The Poet’s Echo
Winter Words

Britten was a prolific composer of songs throughout his creative life, producing over 100 settings for voice and piano, in addition to the works for voice and orchestra. His songs for voice and piano – of which this is the first in a two-volume 4CD cycle, contain settings by poets as diverse as Michelangelo, Hölderlin, Hardy, Pushkin, Auden and Soutar.

The earliest songs date from 1922, when Britten was just nine years old – ‘Beware!’ and two other songs were from this period were reassessed by the composer in 1968, but not published until 1985. These rarities display little of the mature composer’s style, but they are confident and charming settings. The touching ‘Lilian’ and ‘The Joy of Grief’ are also early songs and receive their premiere recordings here. Mature Britten is represented by the Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Winter Words and the 1965 cycle The Poet’s Echo.

This survey of all Britten’s songs for voice and piano is a major project, and Malcolm Martineau has assembled some of the finest young singers of our time for this fascinating journey through repertoire that spans the period 1922–1971.

Volume 2 to be released in October, ONYX4079 (2CD)

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2CD Brilliant/28 pp booklet, essay and sung texts