Edward Gardner & BBC Symphony Orchestra - Britten: Phaedra; A Charm of Lullabies; Lachrymae; Two Portraits; Sinfonietta (2011)

This collection of vocal and orchestral works by Benjamin Britten span his career, from Two Portraits for string orchestra, written when he was 16, to the solo cantata, Phaedra, one of his last completed works. The music varies in style but even the earliest pieces sound mature and demonstrate the composer's early mastery of his craft. Phaedra, from 1975, sets a selection of monologues from Racine's play that outline the dilemma of the queen who falls in love with her husband's son from an earlier marriage. Written largely as expressive recitative, it doesn't showcase Britten at his most inspired, but it makes an effective vehicle for a dramatic singer and Sarah Connolly brings to it a warm, full mezzo-soprano and plenty of passion. A Charm of Lullabies, a setting of five poems, is heard here in lovely newly orchestrated version by Colin Matthews, who had been Britten's assistant and is a formidable composer in his own right. Violist Maxim Rysanov gives a soulful account of Lachrymae: Reflections on a song of Dowland, and of the gently melancholy second movement of the Two Portraits, of which Britten himself was the subject. Even in this early piece it's possible to hear hints of gestures and melodic trends that prefigure his fully mature work. Britten originally wrote his Sinfonietta, his first published composition, for single winds and strings, but soon after re-scored it for string orchestra with an added horn, and it's that version that's heard here. Edward Gardner leads the BBC Symphony Orchestra in graceful performances that highlight the music's lyricism. Chandos' sound is clean, but big and resonant. -- Stephen Eddins