Britten: Pears Collection (DVD), Decca, Music & Performance

The set includes 6 DVDs. Featured is British tenor Benjamin Britten specialist Peter Pears. Benjamin Britten appears as composer, conductor, and pianist. Album Summary 1. Britten, Benjamin : Peter Grimes Written: 1944 - 2. Billy Budd, Op. 50 Written: 1951/1960 - 3. Owen Wingrave, Op. 85 Written: 1970 , - 4. The Beggar's Opera, ballad opera Written: 1948 , - 5. Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus : Idomeneo Written: 1781 , - 6. Schubert, Franz : Winterreise, D 911/Op. 89 Written: 1827 - All Performers - Benjamin Britten (Piano) Peter Pears (Tenor) Conductors - Britten, Benjamin Davies, Meredith Mackerras, Charles, Sir Ensembles - English Chamber Orchestra London Symphony Orchestra - Composers - Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828) "This DVD is as close as we'll ever get to seeing how the originators visualized Peter Grimes. It has Peter Pears in the title role he created and Britten conducting with the staging by Joan Cross, the original Ellen Orford... This earliest complete visual representation of Peter Grimes isn't just a valuable benchmark by which to judge its successors but an eloquent performance in its own right whose quality I appreciated more at a second viewing." - MusicWeb International (on Peter Grimes) "With 1960s monochrome and flat lighting, it's hardly Master and Commander, but its fluency and shifting viewpoints are still striking today, far in advance of stage telecasts, and the coherent atmosphere undoubtedly enhances the drama onscreen. Charles Mackerras maintains both the score's gusty energy and claustrophobic tension, with an equally intense cast." - BBC Music Magazine (Billy Budd) "The singing is excellent, in particular the three ladies... Brian Large's camera direction is just what we've come to expect from one of the preeminent television directors for opera and classical music - not fussy, very musical and sensitive... The 1969 sound is extremely well balanced and natural, with a very good voice/orchestra perspective. This is a very worthwhile and valuable document of a treasurable performance of Idomeneo." - Fanfare (on Idomeneo) "Lieder encourages intimacy, and no composer's more so than Schubert's, a fact that Britten and Pears are all too aware of. Both artists felt a special affinity towards Schubert, and Britten was particularly conscious of a debt as a composer, not just as a performer, to the extent that the song cycles might almost have been his own music. Characterized by directness of approach rather than deference to a specific performing tradition, their music-making speaks from the heart... Britten's arrangement of Purcell's 'Man Is for the Woman Made' would be reason enough to invest in this DVD, given the energy of the performance it receives." - Fanfare (on Schubert: Winterreise; Britten: Folk Songs) Run Time: 545 min.