Benjamin Britten in London - 9 November, 1932, 08:15 PM

from Journeying boy : the diaries of the young Benjamin Britten 1928-1938, page 121:

Go to B.B.C. Concert (area) at 8.15. Henry Wood. Myra Hess plays the Beethoven G maj. after rather a ragged Brandenburg no. 6. She plays it technically v. well, but ridiculous cadenzas, & she & Wood have no idea of the 2nd movement - it's Andante not adagiossississimo. A fine performance of Strauss' Heldenleben to finish with. It contains some marvellous things, & some great scoring, but the common-place harmony of alot of it kills me. The programme is vile I think.*
cite as

John Evans (ed.), Journeying boy : the diaries of the young Benjamin Britten 1928-1938 (:London, 2009), p. 121. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1434920429213 accessed: 19 March, 2024

location of experience: London

Listeners

Benjamin Britten
Composer
1913-1976

Listening to

hide composers
Brandenburg Concerto No 6
written by Bach
performed by Myra Hess, BBC Symphonic Orchestra, Henry Wood
Ein Heldenleben
written by Richard Strauss
performed by BBC Symphonic Orchestra, Henry Wood
Piano Concerto No. 4
written by Beethoven
performed by Myra Hess, BBC Symphonic Orchestra, Henry Wood

Experience Information

Date/Time 9 November, 1932, 08:15 PM
Medium live
Listening Environment in the company of others, indoors, in public

Notes

*Britten reacting badly to the autobiographical nature of the Strauss's tone poem, Ein Heldenleben [A Hero's Life], Op. 40.


Originally submitted by gkw on Sun, 21 Jun 2015 22:00:29 +0100
Approved on Tue, 27 Sep 2016 11:31:27 +0100