Britten's Orchestra
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Composer: Benjamin BrittenConductor: Michael Stern
Orchestra: Kansas City Symphony
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2009-11-10
Music Label: Reference Recordings
Soundtracks:
- Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell), for speaker ad lib & orchestra, Op. 34
- Sinfonia da Requiem, for orchestra, Op. 20: Lacrymosa
- Sinfonia da Requiem, for orchestra, Op. 20: Dies irae
- Sinfonia da Requiem, for orchestra, Op. 20: Requiem aeternam
- Sea Interludes (4) from Peter Grimes, for orchestra, Op. 33a: Dawn
- Sea Interludes (4) from Peter Grimes, for orchestra, Op. 33a: Sunday Morning
- Sea Interludes (4) from Peter Grimes, for orchestra, Op. 33a: Moonlight
- Passacaglia, for orchestra, Op. 33b (from 'Peter Grimes')
- Sea Interludes (4) from Peter Grimes, for orchestra, Op. 33a: Storm
Music reviews of Britten's Orchestra
Music Review: Michael Stern, KC Sym, Britten: Young Person's Guide, Sinfonia da requiem, Peter Grimes Interlude: A second Music-Sound Win
Rating: 5 Stars
This disc is a second volume, released from Kansas City Symphony by San Francisco-based Reference Recordings. That first disc was a winner, though not necessarily a Gustavo Dudamel outing with all stops pulled on on this fine, regional USA band. Our conductor is Michael Stern, son of famed violinist Isaac Stern. Given the results on this second disc, one hopes he continues to build the Kansas City Symphony, and perhaps make additional recordings.
Again, as in the first volume from RR, the sound is demonstration quality so far as capturing music goes. Each section of the orchestra really sounds like itself; and just enough hall resonance is mixed into the picture that one gets a very real sounding impact. Given the existing high quality of RR work, the only soupcon of extra attraction a listener could possibly wish for, would maybe be super audio surround sound? Be happy though for what you do hear on this disc, wide frequency, accurate tonalities across strings-woodwind-percussion-brass, and an involving sense of being in a listening audience and venue.
All of the music in volume two from Kansas City is by Benjamin Britten, while the first disc combined Sullivan and Sibelius incidental music. Thanks to Britten's range as a composer, we get variety in his orchestral music. For openers, we are cheered by Britten's set of orchestral variations on a theme of Henry Purcell, titled Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Some versions of this music add in spoken narrations, to explain and describe what is going on in the distinct departments of the band. The narrator bit is left out this time around, all to good musical effect. Omitting the spoken narrator further emphasizes the music rather than the lesson; most listeners already familiar with Britten will know that these variations skillfully and delightfully show off the various band departments, as well as showing off how the modern orchestra combines and counterpoints.
The lesson here is that Stern and his predecessors have been quietly building a strong regional band in Kansas City. Strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion .... all get their due chance from the composer to show off and shine. No, there is not the nearly bottomless tonal heft and depth in this band that we have long come to expect from, say, Vienna or Berlin or Philadelphia. The comparison is a skewed set up, and Britten's music lets the players speak for themselves, not run irrelevant races for misleading rankings. Each department comes across as tonally true, on target. As in the first disc what really stands out is the alert ensemble and the sheer musicality of the Kansas City playing. Add this Britten to the personal best of this band.
Second on this disc is Sinfonia da requiem. I confess I am still engaging with this darker music. For the moment I can freely say that alert ensemble and high musicality are pluses for getting acquainted with Britten in some of his more anguished, serious musical thinking. So far the rewards are enough to keep a listener going right through; Britten's more serious frame of mind may be gnarly in dissonance - think the serious Aaron Copland? - yet familiarity yields deeper understanding for the listener.
We wrap up with theater music, the interludes and passacaglia excerpted from Britten's signature opera, Peter Grimes. Whatever listeners may weigh of Peter Grimes as 20th century English opera, these excerpts clearly demonstrate that Britten was a master of musical drama. Concisely, powerfully, the four interludes draw us into the mysterious and threatening forces of the Northern Sea ... as much Grand Nature Music in Britten's way as, say, Sibelius? The concluding passacaglia for once has not been omitted, so we conclude this survey of the musical world of Peter Grimes with a stunning demonstration of Britten's way with traditional musical forms. If you as a listener are gripped with this movement, do be sure to check out the last movement of the somewhat neglected Violin Concerto, recordings of which have now definitely blossomed and multiplied in the current commercial catalog.
Don't be afraid of Britten, don't be afraid of Kansas City, and above all, do not fear Reference Recordings' state of the recording arts. Many disc players will even be able to decode the HDCD enhancements; but even the standard red book PCM sound is exemplary. As always with RR discs, one wishes all classical and other music were always recorded with such care, and such a fine ear to the players, the venue, and the music at hand. Five stars, again, volume two.
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