Benjamin Britten - Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge Op.10 (1937)

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (1913 ~ 1976) - Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge for String Orchestra, Op.10 (1937)
0:00 Benjamin Britten - Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge (1937)
0:05 Introduction
0:56 Theme (Frank Bridge - Idyll H.67, No.2 (1906))
1:58 Var. 1, Adagio
4:18 Var. 2, March
5:28 Var. 3, Romance
6:52 Var. 4, Aria Italiana
8:17 Var. 5, Bourrée Classique
9:37 Var. 6, Wiener Walzer
12:39 Var. 7, Moto Perpetuo
13:52 Var. 8, Funeral March
17:44 Var. 9, Chant
19:20 Var. 10, Fugue and finale
Copyright © 1938 in U.S.A. by Hawkes & Son (London), Ltd.
All rights reserved.
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A Far Cry, String orchestra
Original Performance(s)
• Benjamin Britten's "Va...
www.afarcry.org
A Far Cry performs ‘Introduction and Theme’ from Benjamin Britten's "Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge" live in Boston's Jordan Hall May 18, 2017 in a program entitled "Next Generation" which also included works by Ustvolskaya and Mozart/Wood. Joining the Criers in the performance are students from both Project STEP and the New England Conservatory Prep Competition as part of A Far Cry's Community Partnerships and Education initiatives.
Jehan Diaz, viola (Project STEP)
Sean Diehl, violin; Keina Satoh, cello; and Julide San, double bass (NEC Prep)
This piece is featured on our brand new, GRAMMY NOMINATED recording, "Visions and Variations", which can be found online here:
www.amazon.com/Visions-Variat...
Benjamin Britten studied with Frank Bridge from 1927. In 1932 he began writing a set of variations on a theme from one of Bridge's works, as a tribute to his teacher, but he was distracted by other matters and the work went nowhere.
In May 1937,[3] the organizers of the Salzburg Festival invited Boyd Neel and his orchestra to perform three works at that year's Festival, in August, only three months away. One of those works had to be a previously unperformed work by a British composer. Neel knew Britten from having conducted his film score for Love From a Stranger in 1936, so he asked him to write a new work for a string orchestra. Britten accepted the commission and immediately started work on a new set of variations on a theme by Bridge. Britten took as his theme the second of Bridge's Three Idylls for string quartet, Op. 6, No. 2. The first sketch was completed in 10 days, and the work was fully scored by 12 July.
He dedicated the work "to F.B. A tribute with affection and admiration". Both Bridge and Britten attended rehearsals of the work.
The work was given its concert premiere, as planned, on 27 August 1937 in Salzburg. However, its broadcast premiere occurred two days earlier; it was played live on Radio Hilversum on 25 August. Its British premiere took place on 5 October of the same year.
It was first recorded in 1938 by Neel conducting his own string orchestra. A recording with Britten himself conducting did not appear until 1967, with the English Chamber Orchestra for Decca. It has also been recorded by many other ensembles, with conductors including Herbert von Karajan, Yehudi Menuhin, Sir Charles Groves, Sir Alexander Gibson, and Steuart Bedford.
Each variation is a nod to a specific quality in Bridge's personality but reflected through the prism of Britten's own personality. The Adagio represented Bridge's integrity; the March was his energy; the Romance his charm; the Aria Italiana his humour; the Bourrée his tradition; the Wiener Walzer his enthusiasm; the Moto perpetuo his vitality; the Funeral March his sympathy; the Chant was his reverence; the Fugue was his skill (it contains a number of references to other works by Bridge); and their mutual affection appears in the Finale. These connections were made explicit on the score Britten presented to Bridge, but they do not appear in the printed score.
Britten also imitated the styles of a number of composers such as Gioachino Rossini, Maurice Ravel, and Igor Stravinsky.
Paul Kildea writes of the piece:
Though the theme is played in the opening section, it is done so rather whimsically, and it is only at the end of the piece that it is spelled out with weight and clarity. When it arrives it makes sense of everything that has gone before it, demanding that we start again from the beginning, hearing the work once more, this time with our ears alert.
(Wikipedia)

[@donkeychan491]

"The first sketch was completed in 10 days"...I don't know how that's humanly possible for a piece this good.

[@simonkawasaki4229]

A stupendous invigoration of the theme and variations format, all filled with contrasting emotions and textures.

[@user-vf5jy6bp6x]

フランク・ブリッジとベンジャミン・ブリテンは不滅の師弟愛

[@adamtullymusic]

Beautiful! Britten is a genius. also I wish people would learn to stop coughing.

[@JafuetTheSame]

Is the finale mockery of Stravinsky's Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra? Did the two hated each other already?

[@BetonBrutContemporary]

I don't think so, as their personal relationship deterioriated only from 1960's, and Stravinsky's influence on earlier Britten was bigger than we think. If there was an intention of "mockery", I would think it was rather friendlier than one could assume :)

[@brentwoodhornclub4092]

Shame about the heavy breather, the playing is really quite good.