Benjamin Britten

Britten's Elegy was first performed at The Maltings in Snape, Suffolk, by Nobuko Imai in 1984 as part of the 37th Aldburgh festival. This beautiful piece was originally sketched by Britten in 1930 upo...

Portrait No. 2 'E. B' is taken from Two Portraits for Strings composed by Benjamin Britten. This fantastic, flowing Viola solo over, soft, staccato Piano chords really expresses a range of gripping em...

For a 70th birthday tribute to the distinguished Swiss conductor Paul Sacher, Mstislav Rostropovich hit on the idea of inviting twelve of Sacher's friends to collaborate in writing a set a variations...

The Oxen is a lamenting poem of Thomas Hardy's set to music by esteemed composer Benjamin Britten, arranged for upper voices with piano accompaniment.

Britten's last opera, Death In Venice , is based on the short story by Thomas Mann. It follows the inner turmoil of the ageing novelist Gustav von Aschenbach, who becomes infatuated by a boy he sees o...

This work was composed for the twentieth anniversary of the United Nations and requires a large adult chorus of men and women, and a smaller children's choir placed separately with its own conductor a...

Britten's Chorale is a setting of a French carol dating probably from the 17th century, entitled Romancero, although more commonly known as Picardy.

Britten's The World of the Spirit was written for BBC Radio in 1938, his second collaboration with R. Ellis Roberts. The wide-ranging texts from religious books, poetry, and newspaper articles about t...

This work was originally written in 1964 for two 12 year old twin brothers whom Britten met whilst working in Budapest. Each twin played the piano, and one the flute and the other the violin. A second...

This previously unpublished trio was written in late 1929, after Britten composed the Rhapsody For String Quartet (March 1929). The new publication will be edited by David Matthews , who spent 3 years...

Written as a ballet for small orchestra. This work lasts c. 25 minutes and was first performed on 25/1/2004 at the Royal College of Music, London by the Royal College of Music Sinfonietta, conducted b...

Burlesque (from 'Sonatina Romantica'), composed by Benjamin Britten and arranged by Paul Harris and Emma Johnson for clarinet with piano accompaniment.

A Simple and effective setting of a poem by Thomas Hardy, mostly in unison with some elementary two-part singing. Ideal for a school choir.

A committed pacifist born into a renowned military family is met with a torrent of disapproval over his beliefs yet desperate to keep the love of his would-be bride, Owen is determined to prove his in...

Drafted (as a piano duet) in March 1941 for, but not used at, the first production of Paul Bunyan; it was not re-instated in the revival, for which a new short introduction was composed. The work was...

Variations on a Christmas Carol (God rest ye merry, gentlemen) for orchestra. Composed for the BBC programme with the same title which wasbroadcast on Christmas Day 1947. The programme consisted of li...

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 F...

The story of the American folk hero follows the development of the American continent from virgin forest to civilization. It does so in a deliberately eclectic style. Spoken dialogue is interspersed w...

In this second Parable for church performance, Britten sustains the influence of the Noh tradition in Curlew River, while taking inspiration from the Biblical story Ananias, Azarias and Misael. It tel...

Of all the parables in the New Testament none has had quite such a universal and ever-renewed appeal as that of the Prodigal Son. With its unforgettable climax of reward and rejoicing being lavished n...

Commissioned by the BBC for broadcast at the opening concert of the Third Programme, the work was described in the Radio Times as Festival Overture . The work lasts 8 minutes.

In this second Parable for church performance, Britten sustains the influence of the Noh tradition in Curlew River, while taking inspiration from the Biblical story Ananias, Azarias and Misael. It tel...

Written during Britten’s years in the USA (1939-1942) this atmospheric processional languished unperformed in a New York library until its discovery in 1976, the year of the composer’s dea...