Benjamin Britten in London - 24 January, 1932, 09:30 PM

from Journeying boy : the diaries of the young Benjamin Britten 1928-1938, page 97:

Listen to pt. of B.B.C. symph. concert at 9.5 - Ansermet very good. Egmont ov. quite well played. 2 songs from Egmont (Irene Morden) quite well sung. Bach 2nd Brandenburg with Eb Cl. instead of Trumpet (most of time). One gained in confidence but missed the power & character of the trumpet - but the Eb Cl. sounds very like a small trumpet, & there was better balance. Honnegger's Symphony (1930)* to end with. Some amazingly beautiful ideas: but it seemed to me too complex. I liked the slow mov. best for one long broad string (afterwards brass) theme. Last mov. began well but meandered: …   more >>
cite as

John Evans (ed.), Journeying boy : the diaries of the young Benjamin Britten 1928-1938 (:London, 2009), p. 97. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1434290889629 accessed: 20 April, 2024

location of experience: London

Listeners

Benjamin Britten
Composer
1913-1976

Listening to

hide composers
unspecified orchestral music
written by J. Strauss, Offenbach, Franz Schubert, Delius, Brahms, Paul Dukas, Pierre Boulez, Richard Strauss, Mozart
Brandenburg Concerto no 2
written by Johann Sebastian Bach
performed by BBC Symphonic Orchestra, Ernest Ansermet
Egmont Overture
written by Beethoven
performed by BBC Symphonic Orchestra, Ernest Ansermet
Symphony No. 1
written by Arthur Honegger
performed by BBC Symphonic Orchestra, Ernest Ansermet

Experience Information

Date/Time 24 January, 1932, 09:30 PM
Medium broadcast
Listening Environment in the company of others, in private, indoors

Notes

*Honegger Symphony No. 1 (1930), commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, for whom Britten was later to write his Spring Symphony , Op. 44 (1949).


Originally submitted by gkw on Sun, 14 Jun 2015 15:08:10 +0100
Approved on Wed, 28 Sep 2016 11:16:41 +0100