Early days, but I'm really enjoying it so far.

Early days, but it's very good so far.

I'll let you know once I've read to the end.

I'm adding everything to my #TheCompleteBritten playlists as I listen, to build a collection of all his surviving music over the course of 2026.

Youtube: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Qobuz: open.qobuz.com/playlist/515...

I put Felicity Lott on Youtube, and Sandrine Piau on Qobuz.

The Magician is also on BFI Player. It sounds intriguing, so on your recommendation I might give it a go soon.

That's where my ear has to admit its inadequacies. I can appreciate the difference between Piau and every non-native singer I've listened to, but that's as far as my ears can get.

The influence of Debussy is obvious throughout, but the prosody is decidedly un-French: "dans l'ombre se PENchant, errait dans la NUée." This is French poetry with a strong English accent, reminiscent of Victor Hugo at Hauteville House and Debussy coaching Mary Garden as Mélisande.

They've been recorded quite a bit since they were published in 1982. Two accounts stood out for me: Felicity Lott with Bryden Thomson has a sultry, operatic sweep; Sandrine Piau's native feel for the words and introspective intensity are like chamber music. To really 'get' these songs, hear both!

Britten set poems by Victor Hugo and Paul Verlaine in which innocence on the verge of evaporation, sweet yet fragile sensuality, and intimations of mortality make a heady mix.

I'd not listened to these songs properly before and, like The Sea did to Britten, they really knocked me sideways! ❤️

Ha! Not even Britten could entirely hide that he was a sheltered Suffolk boy of 15 when setting French words, a boy from Britain not Brittany. It still makes a difference to hear these songs sung by a native French speaker. No one makes music of the words like Sandrine Piau ❤️

The first song hints seductively at dodecaphony just over the horizon; all four are soaked in the delicate, shimmering colours and harmonies of Ravel and Debussy; and the finale nods appreciatively at Tristan und Isolde. The poetry Britten set also deals with subjects that would be lifelong themes.

Bridge nurtured his protégé's precocious talent in intensive lessons, instilling discipline and introducing world of music the previously sheltered Suffolk lad soaked up like a sponge, incorporating it into his style in a way that magically amplified rather than diluted its feel of individuality.

Bridge gave Britten a model for what a British composer could be. A composer, performer and conductor, his interest in Stravinsky, Debussy and Berg influenced Britten's own aesthetic at a time when much of England's establishment viewed modern continental music with discouraging disdain.

What happened was Frank Bridge: "In 1924, when I was 10, I heard Frank Bridge conduct his suite 'The Sea', and was knocked sideways."

Britten's viola teacher, Audrey Alston, knew Bridge. She took Britten to meet him in 1927. Man and boy got on famously, and Britten began to have lessons with him.

He dedicated the songs to his parents "Mr and Mrs R. V. Britten on the twenty-seventh aniversary of their wedding, September 5th 1928". A year before, he'd dedicated the ambitious but unaccomplished tone poem "Chaos and Cosmos" to them. What happened to produce "Le Grand Bond En Avant"?

I'm adding everything to my #TheCompleteBritten playlists on Youtube and Qobuz as I listen, to build up a collection of all the composer's surviving music over the course of 2026.

Qobuz: open.qobuz.com/playlist/515...

Youtube: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

I'm still pretty intimidated by Fanny & Alexander (3 hours or 5, depending on the cut), but I'm gradually dipping my toes further into Bergman waters thanks to BFI Player. I'm going to try Through a Glass Darkly next, and if I like that I'll watch the rest of his "Faith" trilogy.

I know what you mean. For many years I'd only seen The Seventh Seal. Finally last year I tried a second, Wild Strawberries, which I thought was terrific. I wasn't sure about this one at first, but the longer it went on, the more involved I got, and from the dinner party onwards it's great.