# SS 08.09.18 - Britten "Spring Symphony"



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening! 
_*
*_For your listening pleasure this weekend:*

Benjamin Britten** (1913 - 1976)*

Spring Symphony, Op. 44

1. Part 1 - Introduction: Shine Out - The Merry Cuckoo - Spring, The Sweet Spring - The Driving Boy - The Morning Star
2. Part 2 - Welcome, Maids Of Honour - Waters Above! - Out On The Lawn I Lie In Bed
3. Part 3 - When Will My May Come? - Fair And Fair - Sound The Flute!
4. Part 4 - Finale: London, To Thee I Present

---------------------

Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!


----------



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

Thanks to Mika for filling in last week. Sorry, I keep missing weekends  Things are just really, really chaotic right now...

Anyway, another weekend is upon us and another Symphony is up. This weekend it's British composer Benjamin Britten's "Spring Symphony". I don't really remember the last time I heard this one and can't say I remember much if anything about it, other than I believe it had a bunch of singing. Not always a big fan of Britten but I'm looking forward to giving it a listen.

I'll be listening to this Live performance from 1963 with Leonard Bernstein:


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I am a big fan of Britten, but not of this particular work. Still, I'll pull out this one:










from our CD collection.


----------



## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

My choice through spotify


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Only one recording of the SS in my collection:


----------



## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

Previn/LSO here too.



Mika said:


> View attachment 107575
> 
> My choice through spotify


----------



## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Mika said:


> View attachment 107575
> 
> My choice through spotify


Yes same for me


----------



## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

Mika said:


> View attachment 107575
> 
> My choice through spotify


My choice but from my collection.


----------



## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I remain not Britten's biggest fan, for sure, but the fellow did pen some fine music. And I'm sure there are those who enjoy his _Spring Symphony_. I'm always surprised by how darkly this _Spring Symphony_ begins. This is not Schumann's musical season, certainly.

Things do liven up a bit in the second section of Part I, set to a poem by Edmund Spenser, a poem about the cuckoo, never my favorite bird.

Interestingly, the next two sections strike me as somewhat like _show_ music. Part 5, "The Morning Star", returns to more of a "classical" bent, as I hear it. But this is a poem by John Milton, so he deserves all the classicism a composer can muster.

As Part II launches, I still don't feel too enthused about spring. And I enjoy Robert Herrick's poetry. But again, I have not been Britten's most ardent fan. Alas ….

I probably enjoy reading the poems set in this piece more than I enjoy the music per se. But it is rather relaxing. Subdued, over all. Maybe it's that I prefer music that excites emotions. In any case, this symphony will not turn me into a Britten fan. (The _Simple Symphony_ might do the job better!) But it is not terrible music by any means. Just not my cup of spring beverage.

One of the versions I have, and the one I last listened to:


----------



## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

I'll also go with the live Bernstein on You Tube


----------



## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I'll go with this one later.


----------



## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

realdealblues said:


> Thanks to Mika for filling in last week. Sorry, I keep missing weekends  Things are just really, really chaotic right now...
> 
> Anyway, another weekend is upon us and another Symphony is up. This weekend it's British composer Benjamin Britten's "Spring Symphony". I don't really remember the last time I heard this one and can't say I remember much if anything about it, other than I believe it had a bunch of singing. Not always a big fan of Britten but I'm looking forward to giving it a listen.
> 
> I'll be listening to this Live performance from 1963 with Leonard Bernstein:


I have a love/hate view of Britten's music. Some pieces I like, some - predominantly the operas (except The Turn of the Screw) I simply don't.

I am not familiar with this piece so I'll try with the performance realdealblues shared.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I keep getting the feeling that some people are confusing the Spring Symphony with the Simple Symphony. But so for there's no confusion with Britten's Complicated Symphony.


----------



## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

SONNET CLV said:


> I remain not Britten's biggest fan, for sure, but the fellow did pen some fine music. And I'm sure there are those who enjoy his _Spring Symphony_. I'm always surprised by how darkly this _Spring Symphony_ begins. This is not Schumann's musical season, certainly.
> 
> Things do liven up a bit in the second section of Part I, set to a poem by Edmund Spenser, a poem about the cuckoo, never my favorite bird.
> 
> ...


An excellent post and a very good summary of my feelings on this work


----------



## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

KenOC said:


> I keep getting the feeling that some people are confusing the Spring Symphony with the Simple Symphony. But so for there's no confusion with Britten's Complicated Symphony.


You are right, some people_ do _make mistakes. 
Edit the post.


----------



## Iota (Jun 20, 2018)

The above is the recording I've been listening to.

I find the Spring Symphony a haunting and expressive work, Britten seems to me such a lean composer, his music always stripped of anything superfluous to expressive intent. 
There certainly seems to be something of an irony in its often muted colours and moods, in light of its 'Spring' title, and yet within that palette it's emotionally vivid and moving. And when he finally does let his hair down, tossing a 2/4 'Sumer is icumen in' into 3/4 proceedings in the Finale, the result is spine tingling!


----------



## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

I hadn't given this Symphony a spin for a good long while, not being a great Britten fan it isn't high on the list of "to be listened to discs". That is why I like this thread - it gets me digging out music I would otherwise bypass.
I enjoyed the work as much as any other Britten work and better than most but I must confess I won't be rushing back to it in great haste.


----------



## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

I enjoyed listening to this again more than I had in the past (I heard the Previn recording). My problem is I just don't think of it as a symphony, even though it's called one. I'll be listening to it more when I'm in the mood for choral works. Thanks for suggesting it RDB.


----------



## Weird Heather (Aug 24, 2016)

I got busy with other things and didn't get to it until now. I listened to the live performance in the YouTube link near the beginning of this thread.

I like Britten now, although it took time for me to warm up to his music. I hadn't previously heard this one, but it is the sort of thing I like - a big choral/orchestral piece with a good variation in moods and interesting orchestral colors. Also, I am somewhat interested in music that is inspired in some way by nature and/or seasonal cycles and how such music changed over the centuries; for example, the differences between the Pastoral Symphonies of Beethoven and Vaughan Williams, or perhaps the contrasts among this symphony and Schumann's and Raff's "Spring" symphonies. There are parallels in literature, and music with a text, such as this, could be analyzed closely and compared to trends in the literary world. I might eventually start up a thread on the subject if I can properly organize my thoughts.


----------



## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

A fascinating recording of Sprinng Symphony is of the 1949 premiere performance, informally recorded then released by Decca on 440 063-2. The sound quality is poor, especially at the outset, but it's a joyous, optimistic performance. Blending of the three principal voices (Jo Vincent, Kathleen Ferrier, Peter Pears) is quite beautiful. And there is something wonderful about this hymn to rebirth being premiered in shattered Amsterdam just a few years after the War.


----------

