ARTISTS
Peter Pears, tenor
John Shirley-Quirk, baritone
James Bowman, counter tenor
Benjamin Britten, piano

TRACKLISTING
BRITTEN: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Op. 22    
Winter Words, Op. 52
On this Island, Op. 11 *
Who are these children, Op. 84 *        
Tit for Tat *                                                                                                 
PURCELL (realised Benjamin Britten): Sweeter than roses       
When the cock begins to crow *

* First release on CD

The names of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears are forever linked by their personal and creative partnership. Composer and interpreter have rarely enjoyed so long-standing or fruitful relationship. They met and became friends in 1937 while going through the papers of a mutual friend who had accidentally died. Within a couple of years, they had established a relationship that would last a lifetime and embrace virtually all aspects of their lives.

ARTISTS
Philip Jones Brass Ensemble
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Sir Neville Marriner

TRACKLISTING
TIPPETT: Fanfare for Brass        
Suite in D for the Birthday of Prince Charles*
Fantasia Concertante on a theme of Corelli      
Little Music for String Orchestra
Concerto for Double String Orchestra

* First Release on CD

Tippett never hesitated to go his own way. He was expelled from grammar school for attempting to convert his friends to atheism, espoused Trotskyism, and, in 1943, was jailed for three months as a conscientious objector. Tippett's time would come, however, and by the 1960s and 70s, thanks to younger interpreters such as Colin Davis, who were unfazed by the supposed technical and stylistic 'difficulty' of his music. He was knighted in 1966.

This collection includes the much requested first release on CD of Davis' charming and beautifully realised Philips recording of the Suite in D for the birthday of Prince Charles as well as three virtuoso performances of music for strings with Marriner and the Academy.

*** 'The Concerto for Double String Orchestra receives a performance more sumptuous and warm-hearted than any before on record ... the recording is outstanding' Penguin Guide

ARTISTS
Peter Pears, tenor
Dennis Brain, horn
New Symphony Orchestra*
Eugene Goossens*
Benjamin Britten

TRACKLISTING
BRITTEN: Serenade for tenor, horn & strings, Op. 31*   
Les Illuminations, Op. 18*     
Nocturne for tenor, seven obbligato instruments & strings, Op. 60

* First Release on CD

The three orchestral song cycles collected here are central to the Britten canon of recorded repertoire and whereas Pears' other recordings of the Serenade and Les Illuminations (with Boyd Neel and Benjamin Britten as conductors) have been in circulation, this mono recording with Goossens receives its first and much-anticipated release on CD. All three recordings date from the 1950s and catch Pears in full vocal flight.

ARTISTS
John Ogdon, piano
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Sir Neville Marriner

TRACKLISTING
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 9 in C minor for Strings      
Symphony No. 10 in B minor for Strings       
Symphony No. 12 in G minor for Strings       
Concerto in A minor for Piano & Strings

ARTISTS
Fitzwilliam Quartet
Pierre Amoyal, violin
Pascal Rogé, piano

TRACKLISTING
FRANCK: String Quartet in D major
Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major

Regarded by the Fitzwilliam Quartet itself as one of its finest recordings, this performance of the Franck String Quartet has long been out of circulation and now returns to the catalogue with an ultra-sensitive reading of the Violin Sonata with Amoyal and Rogé.

*** 'Franck's Quartet, highly ambitious in its scale, its almost orchestral textures and its complex use of cyclic form, always seems on the point of bursting the seams of the intimate genre of the string quartet. Yet as a very late inspiration it contains some of the composer's most profound, most compelling thought, and this magnificent performance by the Fitzwilliam Quartet, superbly triumphing over the technical challenge with totally dedicated, passionately conceived playing, completely silences any reservations ... Richly recorded, with the thick textures nicely balanced, this si one of the finest chamber records of the 1980s' Penguin Guide

'here one recognizes the totally idiomatic response to this high romantic music in its own free use of rubato, natural and unaffected ... in the Franck sonata it is remarkable how Amoyal and Roge allow themselves greater freedom over rhythm and tempo without ever seeming undisciplined. ... this is a reading full of fantasy, giving the impression of music emerging spontaneously on the moment' Gramophone