Britten, B.: Owen Wingrave (Complete)
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Following the success of his recent performance of the opera at London's Cadagon Hall, the seasoned Britten performer Richard Hickox has committed Britten's...
Following the success of his recent performance of the opera at London's Cadagon Hall, the seasoned Britten performer Richard Hickox has committed Britten's rarely recorded Owen Wingrave to disc.
There is only one rival CD recording that is available at present.
Commissioned by BBC television in 1966, the work is something of a Cinderella among Britten's operas, despite its imaginative, closely knit score. One possible reason is that it was composed for television rather than the theatre. Like its 1954 predecessor, The Turn of the Screw, Owen Wingrave is based on a ghost story by Henry James. Britten read the story while he was working on The Turn of the Screw, and even then conceived the idea of setting it as an opera. The music employs the relatively spare textures that Britten adopted in his later years.
After the concert performance, The Guardian wrote: 'Any doubts as to its worth, were quashed by this performance, conducted by Richard Hickox, who exposed, often with lethal precision, the moral paradox at the work's centre. In depicting Owen's determination to come out to his military family as a pacifist, Britten adopts a fiercely anti-war stance: yet the opera also envisions life as a battlefield, where death is often the price for the preservation of integrity. Hickox drew us through the resulting complexities with passionate subtlety. Ricocheting brass and clattering timpani delineated both Owen's struggle and the forces of reaction that hem him in, while sensual strings and the sound of Britten's beloved gamelan conveyed the vision of peace that drives Owen on.' The Times commented: 'Hickox and the CLS made every note count, every hiccupping rhythm, each transparent texture. Battle nightmares, sherry being poured: we saw them all, in sound.'
A host of wonderful soloists, including Alan Opie, James Gilchrist and Janice Watson, are accompanied by the City of London Sinfonia. Hickox's previous recordings on Chandos of major works by Britten have been tremendously successful, as shown by such accolades as a Gramophone Award for the War Requiem and a Grammy for Peter Grimes. 'Richard Hickox's Chandos version rivals even the composer's own definitive account in its passion and perception, and must now be regarded as first choice... outstanding performances', wrote The Penguin Guide of the War Requiem.
With such a Britten expert as Hickox at the helm, this recording is sure to win the composer more converts
Owen Wingrave, Op. 85 (more info)
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Act I: Prelude - 3:24
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Act I Scene 1: You've got your maps there? (Coyle, Lechmere, Owen) - 5:06
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Act I Scene 1: Sir, I can't go through with it (Owen, Coyle) - 3:49
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Act I Scene 1: Straight out of school they come to me (Coyle) - Interlude - 3:23
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Act I Scene 2: At last it's out. No doubt old Coyle will rage (Owen, Miss Wingrave, Coyle) - Interlude II: Was is the stateman's game (Owen) - 7:10
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Act I Scene 3: Your sherry, Mrs. Coyle (Lechmere, Mrs. Coyle, Coyle, Owen) - 5:44
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Act I Scene 3: Owen, you can't mean it - it's mad, it's your whole life (Lechmere, Owen) - Interlude III - 5:22
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Act I Scene 4: Oh, how unforeseen (Mrs. Julian, Kate, Miss Wingrave) - 4:33
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Act I Scene 4: And now, to face them, all of them, the living and the dead (Owen, Mrs. Julian, Kate, Miss Wingrave) - 5:58
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Act I Scene 4: Sirrah! How dare you! (Sir Philip, Kate) - Scene 5: How dare you! (Miss Wingrave, Kate, Sir Philip, Mrs. Julian) - 4:04
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Act I Scene 6: Coyle, I wish I had not come. It's horrible! (Mrs. Coyle, Coyle) - 3:12
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Act I Scene 6: Ah! Owen! (Mrs. Coyle, Coyle, Owen, Lechmere) - Interlude IV - 3:53
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Act I Scene 7: May God bless the Queen, and this house (Sir Philip, Mrs. Coyle, Kate, Miss Wingrave, Lechmere, Owen, Mrs. Julian) - 8:49
Owen Wingrave, Op. 85 (more info)
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Act II: Prologue: The Ballad: There was a boy, a Wingrave born (The Narrator, Chorus) - 4:32
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Act II: They called for him to toll the bell (The Narrator, Chorus) - Scene 1: The bell was for the child he slew (Owen, Coyle) - 2:37
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Act II Scene 1: I envy you His fine old house (Lechmere, Mrs. Julian, Mrs. Coyle, Coyle, Owen, Kate) - 2:29
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Act II Scene 1: Aha! (Sir Philip, Coyle, Lechmere, Mrs. Coyle, Kate, Mrs. Julian, Miss Wingrave) - 7:21
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Act II Scene 1: And with his friend young Lechmere played … (Owen, Miss Wingrave, Kate, Mrs. Julian, Mrs. Coyle, Coyle) - 4:13
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Act II Scene 1: Now you may save your scornful looks (Owen) - 5:26
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Act II Scene 1: Ah, Owen what shall I do? (Kate, Owen) - 7:41
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Act II Scene 2: Is that you, Coyle? (Mrs. Coyle, Coyle, Lechmere) - 5:07
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Act II Scene 2: Ah, Owen, Owen — (Kate, Lechmere, Mrs. Coyle, Coyle, Mrs. Julian, Miss Wingrave, Sir Philip, The Narrator, Chorus) - 3:17