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Originally Posted by
AVSC
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It's a great bit of music and was quite controversial at the time due to Britten's conscientious objection to the War.
Many in the UK felt he was not "fit" to write such a piece. After the Premiere they realised they were wrong.
There is some very moving footage from the original performance in Coventry and also one at possibly the Festival Hall.
The Decca recording with Britten conducting is great.
Britten is the best UK composer from last 100 years by far. His work is very modern with a respect for tradition. I met him briefly when I was a child at Aldeburgh.
Wow, meeting Britten... nice.
I agree about Britten being the best UK composer from the last 100 years, I would probably extend this assessment to Europe and world-wide, but this would be a "fan" move.
Being modern with a respect for tradition is what I love about him - and of course his incredible intellect and pure talent that can't be denied.
His refined and complex compositions are a result of really hard work and big intellect, but the melodies and the interesting ideas for structures, combinations, interesting influences (including things like japanese Noh dance-drama, later in his work)... that is something else. Intuition, special talent and sensitivity.