Ferocious Virtuosity Britten concertos - heard by ROBERT ANDERSON '... worth rescuing ...'

Many a year before I joined the Musical Times, it indulged in a lengthy debate on the subject of Benjamin Britten's departure for America in the spring of 1939 at the age of twenty-five. It was argued on the one side that many young and promising composers had been killed in the First World War as outstanding patriots; others thought Britten well-advised to ensure his remarkable gifts should develop in a land so far untouched by war. Along with many of his contemporaries, Britten considered Europe played out in 1939; but three years later he was desperately homesick and came back to England with plans for Peter Grimes already forming in his mind.

Britten's violin concerto was written for Antonio Brosa at much the same time as Walton composed his equivalent work for Heifetz...

BENJAMIN BRITTEN

LAWRENCE POWER

VIOLIN MUSIC

VIOLA MUSIC

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

UNITED KINGDOM

HYPERION RECORDS LTD