The Britten Barrier is another this reviewer has never been able to cross, isolated works excepted. His music seems to contain a nervousness, inviting preciousness in execution that is hard to swallow, and a stubborn root-and-branch denial of Romanticism that is equally hard to take. Whereas a composer like Rachmaninov is happy to combine his own inspiration with the Romantic piano-writing tradition, Britten appears determined to in some sense go it alone. But then there are people for whom his music means a lot -- a matter of temperament again, presumably.
Canticles are sung items in a Christian liturgy, usually derived from a Biblical text. Recorded here are five such works Britten composed over a period of nearly 30 years, though for concert rather than church performance, and for various combinations of voices and instruments. The tenor Ian Bostridge has a voice markedly similar to that of Peter Pears, Britten's lifelong partner and professional colleague for whom these pieces were created. This new CD also contains seven of Britten's folk-song arrangements.
Beethoven's middle and late string quartets have long been treated with great seriousness, even solemnity, by connoisseurs. In a characteristically eulogistic program note on the second of the quartets recorded here, for instance, one Peter Cosse writes of his feelings of gratitude and awe, and concludes, "This music is imperishable for every generation of performers and for their listeners until the very end of time."
The Hagen Quartet bring their celebrated sophistication and dedication to these two works, the first and seventh of the 16 quartet cycle. In brief, this is music of the highest quality finely played and superbly recorded. Even so, such earnestness may still not be to every classical music lover's taste. There is no getting away from the temperament you're born with.
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