Par BRITTEN BENJAMIN. Benjamin Britten's 1937 composition, The Company Of Heaven is a dramatic work of considerable substance, from which individual movements may be performed separately as anthems or concert works. The work sets a variety of texts from authors as varied as John Ruskin, Francis Thompson, Christina Rossetti, Blake and Bunyan./ Répertoire / Conducteur

Par BRITTEN BENJAMIN. Britten began composing his Quatre chansons francaises in June 1928 and had finished the full score by August of that year, before his 15th birthday. The songs reflect the impact of his lessons with Frank Bridge, which had begun in the autumn of 1927, and he dedicated the work, which was among the most ambitious of his compositions at this time, to his parents, on the occasion of their 27th wedding anniversary. There was no performance of the songs until 1980./ Répertoire / Conducteur

The cantata of St. Nicholas Op.42 by Benjamin Britten was written for the centenary celebrations of Lancing College Sussex in 1948.This Hawkes Pocket Score is an authoritative edition ideal for performance preparation or academic study.

Love from a Stranger was a 'thriller' starring Ann Harding and Basil Rathbone based on an Agatha Christie short story Philomel Cottage. As well as Britten's score the film also included excerpts from Grieg'sPeer Gynt music and a contemporary dance band. Not all of the present score was used - No. 3 Brighton was omitted and cuts were made in nos. 5 and 6. In the latter a savage cut deleted the references to themusic of the other numbers in bars 13-20 including the trombone's scale which alludes to a scene in which a child practices the piano unseen. Britten was not happy with the way his music was used and this was to remain hisonly work for the commercial cinema composed in 1936.

Premiered at the festival 'Magma Berlin 2002' by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by David Robertson 29th November 2002.3 Flutes 1st and 2nd also Alto Flutes in G 3rd also Piccolo3 Oboes 3rd also Cor Anglais in F3 Clarinets in Bb 3rd also Bass Clarinet in Bb3 Bassoons 3rd also Contra Bassoon4 Horn in F3 Trumpets in Bb3 Trombones1 TubaTimpani4 Percussion four playersPlayer 1 - Vibraphone Glockenspiel Water Chime Bell Tree Japanese Wood Blocks Cymbal (Suspended) TamTam (Medium)Player 2 - Triangle Tubular Bells Crotales Marimba Chinese CymbalPlayer 3 - TamTam (Large) Java Gong(Large very low) Bell Lyra (Handheld) Sizzle CymbalPlayer 4 - Bass Drum Glockenspiel Xylophone1 Harp1 Piano also CelestaStrings - 16/14/12/10/8All transposing instruments are notated in their relevant transpositions.Any accidental apply only to the note that it immediately precedes except tied notes.Naturals appear occasionally 'for safety'.'LISTENING EARTH' is a symphonic drama a one- movement composition in four parts based on the work by two writers Joseph Addison (1672-1719) and W.H.Auden (1907-1973). Joseph Addison is not particularly well known; he was English a classical scholar essayist poet and politician but one of his hymns was used by Benjamin Britten. in his setting of a Thomas Tallis canon.The hymn is singularly beautiful and being a composer always inspired by extramusical stimuli such as poems nature paintings I was immediately convinced when I carne across the Addison hymn that here was exactly what I wanted to use as my major source of inspiration for this piece commissioned by and written for The Berlin Philharmonic. I don't refer to the hymn in its entirety but have chosen the following 3 excerpts all acting as mottos for the first three sections of the piece thus turning the piece into a straightforward tonepoem in the classical

The first broadcast of the incidental music for D.G. Bridson's radio drama King Arthur was given on 23rd April (St. George's Day) 1937. The first performance of this Suite for Orchestra was given on 21st October 1995 atthe Snape Maltings Concert Hall by the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lutz Köhler. It has been recorded for Chandos by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Richard Hickox.