Knowing Britten
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Knowing Britten
Bittern Press, 2021
- : pbk
Available at 2 libraries
Note
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Knowing Britten is a vivid and insightful account of Steuart Bedford's long association with both Britten the man and his music - 2021 Book of the Year -Presto Music
The conductor and pianist Steuart Bedford (1939-2021) could not remember a time when he did not know Benjamin Britten. His mother, Lesley Duff, sang with the English Opera Group in the premieres of The Rape of Lucretia and Albert Herrring in the late 1940s, and the family was closely involved with Britten and Pears for many years. Following his music studies and time on the music staff at Glyndebourne, Bedford joined the English Opera Group, gradually becoming Britten's trusted surrogate conductor. As Britten's health began to fail, he took on responsibility for the premiere performances of Britten's final opera, Death in Venice, including its US premiere at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and the dramatic cantata Phaedra among others.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents:
1. My mind beats on
2. A thirst, a leaping, wild unrest, a deep desire
3. Should I give up the fruitless struggle with the word?
4. So be it
5. What lies in wait for me here?
6. My head is heavy, my eyelids ache
7. I must go elsewhere, I must find a clearer sky, a fresher air
8. How much better to live, not words but beauty, to exist in it, and of it
9. The power of beauty sets me free
10. Yet I am driven on
11. O voluptuous days, O the joy I suffer
12. So the moments pass
13. And now, Paedrus, I will go
No epilogue, I pay you for your play needs no excuse
Acknowledgements
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"