Britten, Rubbra - Britten: Piano Concerto; Diversions; Young Apollo album flac

Benjamin Britten's Piano Concerto, Op. 13, is the composer's sole piano concerto. The piece was written in 1938 and then revised in 1945, including the replacement of the third movement. This was Britten's first work for piano and orchestra, which he premiered as the soloist at a Promenade Concert in 1938. Dedicated to the composer Lennox Berkeley, the concerto is a 'bravura' work that has gained more international attention in recent years. Britten described the piece as "simple and in direct form".

While it could never hope to supplant the definitive stereo Decca recording of Britten's early piano concerto with the dedicatee at the keyboard and the composer on the podium, this digital Hyperion recording does provide a valuable supplement to the earlier recording. There, of course, the magisterial Sviatoslav Richter was the soloist and the masterful Britten was the conductor in a performance full of high spirits and coruscating virtuosity that at last established the work as a modernist masterpiece. Young Apollo, for piano, string quartet & strings, Op. 16 (withdrawn by composer). BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Steven Osborne, Ilan Volkov.

Piano Concerto In G. 1. Corymbus. Conductor – Sir Malcolm SargentOrchestra – BBC Symphony Orchestra. Prelude And Fugue For 18-part String Orchestra. Orchestra – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Britten’s Piano Concerto in D major, Opus 13 is finally getting ample exposure and with every listening the beauty of the work becomes more evident. Osborne’s interpretation is clear, focused and fully realized. It is s fine gesture to pair this concerto with the Diversions for piano left hand and orchestra, Opus 21 a each work enhances the other and demonstrates Britten’s keen skill with the keyboard. But the real joy of this recording is the Young Apollo for piano, string quartet and string orchestra. It is a brilliant work and the history behind it is worthy of repeating.

Classical music destination. Benjamin Britten: Piano Concerto; Diversions; Young Apollo. Performer: Steven Osborne Orchestra: Glasgow BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Ilan Volkov. Piano Concerto in D major, Op. 13: Toccata. Allegro molto e con brio 2. 13: Waltz. Allegretto 3. 13: Impromptu. Andante lento – 4. 13: March. Allegro moderato – Sempre alla marcia 5. Work(s): Original version of the third movement of the Piano Concerto (Recitative and Aria

Lento 6. Young Apollo, for Piano, String Quartet and String Orchestra, O. 6 (1939) Diversions, for Piano (Left Hand) and Orchestra, O. 1 (1940) 7. Theme. Maestoso 8. Variation I: Recitative. L'istesso tempo (Maestoso) 9. Variation II: Romance. While it could never hope to supplant the definitive stereo Decca recording of Britten's early piano concerto with the dedicatee at the keyboard and the composer on the podium, this digital Hyperion recording does provide a valuable supplement to the earlier recording. There, of course, the magisterial Sviatoslav Richter was the soloist and the masterful Britten was the conductor in a performance full of high spirits and coruscating virtuosity that at last established the work as a modernist masterpiece

The Piano Concerto and the Diversions for piano left hand and orchestra were always part of the official work list, but Young Apollo - for piano, string quartet and string orchestra, and inspired by Keats's unfinished poem Hesperion - was premiered by Britten in Toronto in 1939, and withdrawn soon afterwards, only being published after his death.

Young Apollo (1939) was not heard for half a century after its premiere, perhaps discarded by Britten because its fanfare-like material was more effectively deployed in Les illuminations (also 1939). It’s a quirky piece, difficult to programme, a euphorically unguarded response to Keats’s vision of male beauty in Hyperion. Diversions is on a much grander scale, its style making even clearer those debts to Mahler which Britten had allowed to surface now and again in the concerto.