Britten: Serenade for tenor, horn, and strings (San Francisco, 2014)

Описание: Here is a performance from 2014 of Britten's "Serenade", op. 31, with Toby Spence, tenor; Robert Ward, horn; and the San Francisco Symphony, under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas.

Writer and columnist Janos Gereben wrote of this performance: "Serenade is both essential and the best of Britten. Six songs, to text as varied as those of Tennyson and Blake, form a vital whole that enchants, elevates, lingers on in the ears and the heart.

After Robert Ward played the difficult solo horn introduction with ease, the other star of the performance, tenor Toby Spence cast a spell over the hall with the music to Charles Cotton's poem:

"The Day's grown old, the fainting Sun
Has but a little way to run,
And yet his steeds, with all his skill,
Scarce lug the Chariot down the Hill."

Spence's open-throated, gorgeous singing revealed a thrilling mastery of the difficult combination of floating high notes and resounding chest notes. Having beat thyroid cancer a few years ago, the tenor's voice and artistry are their peak. Ward and the SFS strings under MTT's passionate direction helped cradle Spence's performance through the half-hour cycle that ends all too soon."

I. Prologue 0:00
II. Pastoral (Charles Cotton) 1:22
III. Nocturne (Alfred Tennyson) 5:12
IV. Elegy (William Blake) 9:26
V. Dirge (anon., 15th c.) 13:41
VI. Hymn (Ben Jonson) 17:23
VII. Sonnet (John Keats) 19:36
VIII. Epilogue 23:37