In order for Benjamin Britten's music to remain alive in the repertoire, it must be recorded by conductors other than the composer himself. Still, any new conductor's recordings will inevitably be compared with Britten's own, usually definitive, recordings. Two of the five discs here avoid that trap by programming works the composer himself did not conduct, and it must be said that the performances on those discs are the most convincing. Rattle's bright and breezy approach to An American Overture, the Canadian Carnival, and the Occasional Overture may not make the youthful works sound especially like mature Britten, but they sound like appealing works anyway. Much more problematic are Rattle's accounts of the Sinfonia da Requiem and the War Requiem. Here, bright and breezy are out and deep and dour are in, but Rattle's readings sound disappointingly shallow, missing the heart to quantify yet manifest emotional depth of Britten's classic recordings. Much better are Rattle's sensitive accounts of the composer's three great orchestral song cycles -- Les Illuminations, the Serenade, and the Nocturne -- with tenor Ian Bostridge. Part of the reason for the performances' success lies with the superlative Bostridge, who seems to know these pieces from the inside out, and part lies with the Berliner Philharmoniker, a much more supple orchestra than the City of Birmingham Symphony, which plays rings around its English counterparts. Thus, though recorded in clear, direct digital sound, these performances cannot be said to rival the composer's own or to add much to what has already been said about his works, though fans of the composer may want to at least try the overtures and the song cycles.
© TiVo