Benjamin Britten - Death in Venice

Benjamin BRITTEN (1913-1976)

Death in Venice, Op. 88. Opera in two acts

Libretto by Myfanwy Piper based on the short novel by Thomas Mann

Peter Pears (tenor) 

John Shirley-Quirk (baritone)

James Bowman (countertenor)

Stuart Harling (baritone)

Kenneth Bowen (tenor)

Michael Bauer (voice)

Michael Follis (voice)

Neville Williams (bass-baritone)

Angela Vernon Bates (voice)

Sheila Brand (voice)

Anna Vincent (voice)

Anne Wilkens (mezzo-soprano)

Iris Saunders (soprano)

Penelope McKay (soprano)

Stephen James Adams (voice)

Janice Hooper Roe (voice)

Peter Leeming (baritone)

Robert Carpenter Turner (voice)

Ronald Murdock (voice)

Keith Jones (voice)

English Opera Group Chorus

English Chamber Orchestra

Steuart Bedford

Recorded in The Maltings, Snape,  Suffolk, UK, April 1974, under the supervision of the composer.

Review:

In his insert-notes, Christopher Palmer has pertinent things to say about the sexual climate of Britten's last opera, Death in Venice; but these seem to become of less consequence as you listen to the music. Its potency and inventiveness create this opera's disturbing and intense atmosphere, each episode heightened dramatically by instrumental colouring. Under Bedford's direction each scene is fully integrated into a fluent and convincing whole. This recording was made while Britten was very ill; it omits Aschenbach's first recitative ('I have always kept a close watch over my development as a writer …'), given as an optional cut in the vocal score, which was published after the recording was made, by which time Britten had changed his mind about this cut and wished it had been included in the recording.

Pears's Aschenbach, a very English conception, is a masterly performance, matched by John Shirley-Quirk's assumption of the six characters who are Aschenbach's messengers of death and the Voice of Dionysus

The Gramophone Classical Music Guide