At their best, Benjamin Britten's Canticles are hypnotic works that walk a fine line between piety and theater. If they sound studied, they lose their connection to gut emotion, and if they go over the top expressively, Britten's finely woven tapestries of sound give way to chaos. Few recordings have managed to straddle that line as well as this one by Philip Langridge, Steuart Bedford, and a first-rate collection of British collaborators. Langridge's singing shares many qualities with that of Peter Pears, for whom the ...
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At their best, Benjamin Britten's Canticles are hypnotic works that walk a fine line between piety and theater. If they sound studied, they lose their connection to gut emotion, and if they go over the top expressively, Britten's finely woven tapestries of sound give way to chaos. Few recordings have managed to straddle that line as well as this one by Philip Langridge, Steuart Bedford, and a first-rate collection of British collaborators. Langridge's singing shares many qualities with that of Peter Pears, for whom the Canticles were all written: his voice is not always conventionally beautiful, but he sings with clear dramatic intention, crisp diction, and musical precision. The success of this collection rests on Langridge's convincing ability to inhabit a musical world so personally tailored to another singer. For his part, Bedford brings a deep understanding of Britten's compositional language that originated in collaboration with the composer himself. The combination of the two makes this...
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