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<body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'><br>What a brave fellow you are to break the long silence Michael.<br><br>Question: <u>Who is listening to what lately?<br></u><br>Answer from me: it's <u>Benjamin Britten Centennial</u> all over Radio France Musique, BBC4 t.v and BBC Radio 3 and I'm having a great time. Britten was a brilliant pianist as well as a brilliant composer. Unfortunately I cannot find a youtube link to the Britten/Richter live t.v. performance of Mozart for two pianos but I'll pass these along:<br><br>"The <b>Simple Symphony</b>, Op. 4, is a work for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_orchestra" title="String orchestra">string orchestra</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_quartet" title="String quartet">string quartet</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Britten" title="Benjamin Britten">Benjamin Britten</a>. It was written between December 1933 and February 1934 in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowestoft" title="Lowestoft">Lowestoft</a>,
using bits of score that the composer had written for the piano as a
young teenager, between 1923 and 1926. It was composed for string
orchestra and received its first performance in 1934 at Stuart Hall in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwich" title="Norwich">Norwich</a>,<b> </b>with Britten conducting an amateur orchestra.
The piece is dedicated to Audrey Alston (Mrs Lincolne Sutton),
Britten's viola teacher during his childhood. The piece is based on
eight themes which Britten wrote during his childhood (two per movement)
and for which he had a particular fondness. He completed his final
draft of this piece at age twenty." - Perhaps it's a "cold grey North" thing but I love Britten.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Symphony#cite_note-1"><span></span></a></sup><BR><br><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwSwopSro0k">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwSwopSro0k</a><br><br><br>and what Arvo Part wrote of Britten:<br><br><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82-xbhfNR2g"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82-xbhfNR2g" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82-xbhfNR2g</a></a><br><br><br>and a documentary ("Benjamin Britten on Camera" has not yet been posted alas):<br><br><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHxMzDMSLwg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHxMzDMSLwg</a><br><br><br>Radio France Musique: <br><br><a href="http://www.francemusique.fr/opera/benjamin-britten-cet-inconnu-10834">http://www.francemusique.fr/opera/benjamin-britten-cet-inconnu-10834</a><br><br>...further on RFM just search <u>this week's calendar </u>for their great "English Music" programmes all this past week. RFM truly made an effort.<br><br><br>Of course it's not all as grim as one might surmise from these links. Dudley Moore did a great "take-off" of Britten-Pears which was a huge success, apparently more for Pears (who laughed) than for Britten (who wasn't much amused). <br><br>Here's to old England...<br>Mary<br><br><div><hr id="stopSpelling">Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 16:04:12 -0800<br>From: mmacelletti@sbcglobal.net<br>To: f_minor@glenngould.org; gmadoodat@hotmail.com<br>Subject: [f_minor] nothing, really,<br><br><div style="color:#000;background-color:#fff;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt;"><div>just two cd's you might want to have , considering............. everything. </div><div><br></div><div style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:13px;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-style:normal;">glenn gould ... and serenity sony sk 90538 and </div><div style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:13px;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-style:normal;"><br></div><div style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:13px;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-style:normal;">mozart adagios decca 2 cd 289 460 191-2</div></div><br></div> </div></body>
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