BBC Legends 3: Britten Conducts Mozart

For those that have been following the BBC Legends series since its inception, the eighth CD in the third installment will probably not be a surprise. The seventh CD devoted to the conductor Jascha Horenstein is followed by another conductor who will be better known as composer to most listeners. However, this is the second appearance of Benjamin Britten as a conductor, the first having been the fourteenth CD of the second installment, which presented recordings of two “fourths,” the fourth symphony in G major of Gustav Mahler and the fourth orchestral suite, Opus 61, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, better known to many by the title Mozartiana.

In that context it seems appropriate that Britten’s CD for the new release should be devoted to a single composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. That composition is the K. 626 setting of the Requiem Latin text in D minor. Mozart began work on this piece in the year of his death, 1791; and it was subsequently completed the following year by Franz Xaver Süssmayr on a commission by Count Franz von Walsegg.

The vocal parts for this composition consist of solo parts for soprano, contralto, tenor, and bass, along with an SATB mixed choir. Sadly the solo female resources are designated on the track listings as “Soprano I/II;” but the female soloists are soprano Heather Harper and contralto Alfreda Hodgson. The male soloists are tenor Peter Pears and bass John Shirley-Quirk. Britten conducts the Aldeburgh Festival Chorus and the English Chamber Orchestra. The CD also includes five tracks of Britten in conversation with Donald Mitchell whose topics are:

1. Opera
2. Composing
3. Dreams
4. Teaching
5. Map-reading

The performance was recorded at the Aldeburgh Concert Hall on June 20, 1971.

Cover design for Britten: The Performer (from the Amazon.com Web page)

The fact is that my interest in following Britten’s accounts of other composers goes back to 2013, the year in which Decca released the 27-CD box set entitled Britten: The Performer, following up on its 65-CD Britten: The Compete Works. The Performer collection does not include K. 626. However, there are five CDs devoted almost entirely to Mozart’s instrumental music, along with half of the final CD in the box. These include two duo sonatas with Sviatoslav Richter joining Britten for the performance.

The “bottom line” is that, through those Decca releases, I came to cultivate considerable respect for Britten performing music other than his own; and I could not be more delighted to add K. 626 to the list of such compositions.