I am studying Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge for a concert next month with the Orchestra of the Swan.
https://orchestraoftheswan.org/events/winter-remembered/
It is a work that never ceases to astound me. Literally every bar is full of invention and inspiration, but what lifts the entire piece to the level of the truly cosmic is the way in which Britten, 24 minutes into a 28 minute work, turns away from what seems to be shaping up as a virtuoso finale and instead ends in a Lento of Mahlerian profundity which really does seem to take us into another realm beyond our own.
As I was turning these last pages today, I was reminded of the words of Stephen Pedersen who reviewed my last performance of the piece at the Scotia Festival in 2013. He got this piece about as right as any critic can ever get a piece of music.
“For me, one of the most remarkable [performances] was the playing of Benjamin Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, for strings, Op. 10, on Friday night.
“Somehow I have missed hearing this powerful work during long years of listening to classical music. Hearing it for the first time under the direction of so honest and intuitive a musician as Kenneth Woods was a shattering experience, leaving me speechless with awe and wonder.”
I know how you feel, Stephen.
Recent Comments