Britten Music for Strings – Norwegian Chamber Orchestra

The young and old Britten

Several of Benjamin Britten´s are given an excellent treatment by The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra on this album. From the tragic eloquence of the “Prelude and Fugue”, to the youthful enthusiasm of the tribute to his old compositional teacher in “Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge” or the return to his musical themes written as a child in “Simple Symphony”, The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra delivers an exquisite performance on this recording.

Also included on this album is violist Lars Anders Tomter´s recordings of Britten´s last completed original composition, “Lachrymae”, showing off the composer´s mastery of variation techniques in an eloquent work that surely ranks as his masterpieces, and Britten´s “Elegy”, one of his many laments of a lost childhood or irrecoverable innocence. Certainly the piece has more to it than a boyish indulgence in melancholy. It ingeniously develops a haunting theme of unusual length, beautifully exploiting the instrument´s capacity for plangent expressiveness.