Britten: Phantasy Quartet Op. 2 for oboe, violin, viola & cello

This page lists all recordings of Phantasy Quartet Op. 2 for oboe, violin, viola & cello, by Benjamin Britten (1913-77) on CD. Generally, more recent CDs are listed first, but with priority given to items that are in stock.

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Mozart, Britten & Dohnànyi - Chamber Music

Mozart, Britten & Dohnànyi - Chamber Music


Britten:

Phantasy Quartet Op. 2 for oboe, violin, viola & cello

Dohnányi:

Serenade in C major for String Trio Op. 10

Mozart:

Oboe Quartet in F major, K370

Three Arias from The Magic Flute adapted for oboe & violin

Adagio K580


François Leleux, Lisa Batiashvili, Lawrence Power & Sebastian Klinger

Their performance of Mozart's Oboe Quartet, a highly virtuosic and original work shows a different side to these musicians, highlighting their subtlety and lightness of touch. The arrangement for oboe and violins of three arias from ‘The Magic Flute’ was originally set for two violins, while only the cor anglais part has survived from the Adagio, K580. In addition to the seldom-heard 1902 Serenade by the Hungarian composer Ernst von Dohnányi, Benjamin Britten's ‘Phantasy Quartet’ presents a rhapsodically-toned masterwork for the combination of oboe, violin, viola and cello

“These four outstanding musicians come together in two works by Mozart and one by Britten. The Mozart is his Oboe Quartet in F, K370, a work whose compactness and exquisiteness go hand in hand, although one really does wish it could be longer. Mozart’s C minor Adagio for Cor Anglais, violin, viola and cello, K580A, is of lesser interest, but three arias from The Magic Flute in oboe and violin versions are delightful.” Sunday Times, 6th July 2008

“As you'd expect from instrumentalists of this pedigree, much of the playing on this disc is of the highest class, yet the final impression is one of slight disappointment. François Leleux's playing in the Oboe Quartet is marvellously supple and fluent, but it's almost too elegant and relaxed for the character of this intensely attractive three-movement work to come across, despite the equally suave contributions from [the other players]. Britten's early Phantasy Quartet fares better, perhaps because its pungency is hard to underplay...but the disc ends on a bit of a downer, with Dohnanyi's Serenade for string trio. Like everything else, it's beautifully shaped, but its intrinsic superficiality can't be disguised.” The Guardian, 25th July 2008 ***

“Mozart's mini-concerto is lit up by Leleux's bright but flexible tone… The teenage Britten's single-movement Phantasy is played with well-observed detail…” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2008 ****

“Distinguished soloists do not always make distinguished chamber musicians. Here they do; and unsuspected depths in the music are plumbed.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2008

GGramophone Magazine

Editor's Choice - September 2008

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Sony - 88697285852

(CD)

$16.99

Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days.

Britten & Bliss

Britten & Bliss


Bliss:

Oboe Quintet, Op. 21

Britten:

Phantasy Quartet Op. 2 for oboe, violin, viola & cello

String Quartet No. 3, Op. 94


Vermeer Quartet Alex Klein (oboe)

The esteemed Vermeer Quartet joins forces with phenomenal oboist Alex Klein in three pillars of 20th-century British chamber music.

Benjamin Britten's spellbinding Phantasy Quartet (1932) for oboe, violin, viola, and cello was his first work to gain international recognition. This passionate piece displays elements that became hallmarks of his unique style.

Noteworthy for its sublime balance between oboe and strings, Arthur Bliss's gorgeous Quintet for Oboe and String Quartet (1927) deftly blends diverse styles and influences, concluding with the ingenious use of an Irish jig.

In a fitting finale, the Vermeer plays Britten's last major work, the String Quartet No. 3 (1975). The New York Times says of the valedictory piece, "Every episode. . . seems to emanate from some mystical realm."

Cedille - CDR90000093

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Britten - Music for Oboe and for Piano

Britten - Music for Oboe and for Piano


Britten:

Phantasy Quartet Op. 2 for oboe, violin, viola & cello

Holiday Diary Op. 5 for solo piano

Six Metamorphoses after Ovid for solo oboe, Op. 49

Temporal Variations for oboe & piano

Five Waltzes for piano

Two Insect Pieces for Oboe and Piano

Night Pieces (Notturno) for piano


Sarah Francis (oboe), Michael Dussek (piano)

Delmé Quartet

Helios - CDH55154

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Britten: Phantasy Quartet Op. 2 for oboe, violin, viola & cello, etc.

Bax:

Oboe Quintet (1922)

Bliss:

Oboe Quintet, Op. 21

Britten:

Phantasy Quartet Op. 2 for oboe, violin, viola & cello


Gordon Hunt (oboe)

The Tale Quartet

BIS - BISCD763

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Britten: Complete Works with Oboe

Britten: Complete Works with Oboe


Britten:

Phantasy Quartet Op. 2 for oboe, violin, viola & cello

Six Metamorphoses after Ovid for solo oboe, Op. 49

Two Insect Pieces for Oboe and Piano

Temporal Variations for oboe & piano


Gernot Schmalfuß (oboe), Mamiko Watanabe (piano)

Mannheimer Streichquartett

MDG - MDG3010925

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Benjamin Britten – The Collector’s Edition

Benjamin Britten – The Collector’s Edition


Britten:

Sinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Libor Pesek

Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Libor Pesek

The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Libor Pesek

Canadian Carnival Overture, Op. 19

Wesley Warren (trumpet)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle

Diversions for piano (left hand) and orchestra, Op. 21

Peter Donohoe (piano)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle

Scottish Ballad, Op. 26

Peter Donohoe & Philip Fowke (pianos)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle

An American Overture

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle

Occasional Overture, Op. 38

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle

The Building of the House

CBSO Chorus & City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle

Piano Concerto, Op. 13

Leif Ove Andsnes (piano)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi

Violin Concerto in D minor Op. 15

Ida Haendel (violin)

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Berglund

Young Apollo, Op. 16

Peter Donohoe (piano), Felix Kok, Jeremy Ballard (violins), Peter Cole (viola) & Michal Kaznowski (cello)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle

Simple Symphony, Op. 4

Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Iona Brown

Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10

Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Iona Brown

Prelude & Fugue Op. 29

Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Iona Brown

Lachrymae for viola & strings, Op. 48a

Lars Anders Tomter (viola)

Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Iona Brown

Gloriana - Symphonic Suite Op. 53a

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Takuo Yuasa

Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 68

Steven Isserlis (cello)

City of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox

Men of Goodwill (Variations on a Christmas Carol for orchestra)

Minnesota Orchestra, Sir Neville Marriner

Sinfonietta, Op. 1

Pauline Lowbury & Julian Tear (violins)

Britten Sinfonia, Daniel Harding

Russian Funeral

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle

Suite on English Folk Tunes 'A Time there was', Op. 90

Peter Walden (cor anglais)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle

Matinees musicales - ballet suite Op.24

English Chamber Orchestra, Sir Alexander Gibson

Soirees musicales - ballet suite Op.9

English Chamber Orchestra, Sir Alexander Gibson

Rossini Suite original version of Soirées Musicales

Boys of the Choir of Paisley & Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Steuart Bedford

The Prince of the Pagodas, Op. 57

London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen

Rhapsody for String Quartet

Endellion String Quartet

Quartettino

Endellion String Quartet

String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 25

Endellion String Quartet

Phantasy in F minor for string quintet

Nicholas Logie (viola)

Endellion String Quartet

Elegy for unaccompanied viola

Garfield Jackson (viola)

Phantasy Quartet Op. 2 for oboe, violin, viola & cello

Endellion String Quartet

Three Divertimenti

Endellion String Quartet

String Quartet No. 2 in C major, Op. 36

Endellion String Quartet

String Quartet in D major (1931)

Endellion String Quartet

String Quartet No. 3, Op. 94

Endellion String Quartet

Suite No. 1 for cello solo, Op. 72

Truls Mørk (cello)

Suite No. 3 for cello solo, Op. 87

Truls Mørk (cello)

Suite No. 2 for cello solo, Op. 80

Truls Mørk (cello)

Holiday Diary Op. 5 for solo piano

Stephen Hough, Ronan O’Hara (pianos)

Three Character Pieces

Stephen Hough, Ronan O’Hara (pianos)

Moderato, Nocturne & Twelve Variations on a Theme from Sonatina romantica

Stephen Hough, Ronan O’Hara (pianos)

Five Waltzes for piano

Stephen Hough, Ronan O’Hara (pianos)

Two Lullabies for Two Pianos

Stephen Hough, Ronan O’Hara (pianos)

Introduction and Rondo alla burlesca, op.23 No.1

Stephen Hough, Ronan O’Hara (pianos)

Suite Op. 6

Alexander Barantschik (violin) & John Adey (piano)

Sonata for cello and piano in C major, Op. 65

Moray Welsh (cello) & John Lenehan (piano)

Six Metamorphoses after Ovid for solo oboe, Op. 49

Roy Carter (oboe)

Nocturnal after John Dowland: Reflections on ‘Come, heavy Sleep', Op. 70

Julian Bream (guitar)

War Requiem, Op. 66

Elisabeth Söderström (soprano), Robert Tear (tenor), Sir Thomas Allen (baritone) & Mark Blatchly (chamber organ)

Boys of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, CBSO Chorus & City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle

Spring Symphony, Op. 44

Sheila Armstrong (soprano), Dame Janet Baker (contralto) & Robert Tear (tenor)

St. Clement Danes School Boys’ Choir, London Symphony Chorus & London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn

Hymn to St Cecilia, Op. 27

Richard Cross (treble)

Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Sir David Willcocks

A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28

James Clark, Julian Godlee (trebles) & Osian Ellis (harp)

Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Sir David Willcocks

Missa Brevis in D major, Op. 63

Julian Brown, Christopher Anderson, Anthony Sackville, Rory Phillips & James Clark (trebles) & Ian Hare (organ)

Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Sir David Willcocks

Festival Te Deum in E, Op. 32

Simon Channing (treble) & James Lancelot (organ)

Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Sir Philip Ledger

Rejoice in the Lamb, Op. 30

Simon Channing (treble), James Bowman (countertenor), Richard Morton (tenor), Marcus Creed (bass), James Lancelot (organ) & David Corkhill (percussion)

Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Sir Philip Ledger

Te Deum in C

Rory Phillips (treble) & James Lancelot (organ)

Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Sir Philip Ledger

Jubilate Deo in C major (1961)

Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Sir Philip Ledger

A Hymn to the Virgin

Stephen Barton (treble), Hugh Hudleston (treble), Warren Trevelyan-Jones (tenor) & Francis Pott (bass)

Winchester Cathedral Choir, David Hill

St Nicolas, Op. 42

Words by Eric Crozier

Robert Tear (tenor), Bruce Russell (treble), Andrew Davis & Ian Hare (piano duet

Cambridge Girls’ Choir, Choir of King’s College, Cambridge & Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Sir David Willcocks

Hymn to St. Peter, Op. 56a

Mark Emney, Peter Rowe (trebles) & Timothy Farrell (organ)

Wandsworth School Choir, Russell Burgess

A Hymn of Saint Columba

Mark Emney, Peter Rowe (trebles), Christopher Hughes, Timothy Farrell (organ)

Choir of King’s College, Cambridge & Wandsworth School Choir, Russell Burgess

Sacred and Profane, Op. 91

Vasari Singers, Jeremy Backhouse

The Little Sweep

Words by Eric Crozier

Robert Lloyd, Robert Tear, Sam Monck, Heather Begg, Catherine Benson, Cato Fordham, Catherine Wearing, Mary Wells, David Glick, Colin Huehns & Katherine Willis

Finchley Children’s Music Group, Choral Scholars of King’s College, Cambridge & Medici String Quartet, Sir Philip Ledger

A Boy was Born, Op. 3

London Sinfonietta Chorus & Choristers of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Terry Edwards

A Shepherd's Carol

Sarah Leonard (soprano), Susan Bickley (mezzo-soprano), Peter Hall (tenor) & Gordon Jones (baritone)

London Sinfonietta Chorus, Terry Edwards

Noye's Fludde

Richard Pasco, Donald Maxwell, Linda Ormiston, Alexander Gallifant, Timothy Lamb, Nicholas Berry, Catriona Johnson, Polly Hewetson & Joanna Brown

Coull String Quartet & Schools’ Orchestra from schools of Salisbury and Chester, Richard Hickox

AMDG

London Sinfonietta Chorus, Terry Edwards

The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard (Text: The Oxford Book of Ballads)

Baccholian Singers of London

The Company of Heaven

Peter Barkworth, Sheila Allen (narrators), Cathryn Pope (soprano), Dan Dressen (tenor) & Christopher Herrick (organ)

London Philharmonic Choir & English Chamber Orchestra, Philip Brunelle

Ballad of Heroes, Op. 14

Robert Tear (tenor)

CBSO Chorus & City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle

Praise We Great Men

Alison Hargan (soprano), Mary King (contralto), Robert Tear (tenor) & Willard White (bass)

CBSO Chorus & City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle

Les illuminations, Op. 18

Heather Harper (soprano)

Northern Sinfonia Orchestra, Sir Neville Marriner

Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings, Op. 31

Neil Mackie (tenor) & Barry Tuckwell (horn)

Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Steuart Bedford

Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal, for tenor, horn and strings

orch. Colin Matthews

Neil Mackie (tenor) & Barry Tuckwell (horn)

Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Steuart Bedford

Nocturne, Op. 60 for tenor, obbligato instruments and strings

Robert Tear (tenor)

English Chamber Orchestra, Jeffrey Tate

Quatre Chansons Françaises

Jill Gomez (soprano)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle

Our Hunting Fathers, Op. 8

Elisabeth Söderström (soprano)

Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera, Richard Armstrong

Four Folksong Settings

Elisabeth Söderström (soprano)

Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera, Richard Armstrong

Phaedra, Op. 93

Felicity Palmer (mezzo-soprano), Jane Salmon (cello) & Melvyn Tan (harpsichord)

Endymion Ensemble, John Whitfield

Five French Folksong arrangements

Felicity Palmer (mezzo-soprano)

Endymion Ensemble, John Whitfield

Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Op. 22

Peter Pears (tenor) & Benjamin Britten (piano)

The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op. 35

Peter Pears (tenor) & Benjamin Britten (piano)

On this Island, Op. 11

Robert Tear (tenor) & Sir Philip Ledger (piano)

Winter Words, Op. 52

Robert Tear (tenor) & Sir Philip Ledger (piano)

Canticles I-V

Ian Bostridge (tenor), David Daniels (countertenor), Christopher Maltman (baritone), Timothy Brown (horn), Aline Brewer (harp) & Julius Drake (piano)

Folksong Arrangements: The Plough Boy, The Salley Gardens, The foggy, foggy dew, There's none to soothe, O Waly, Waly, The Ash Grove, Greensleeves

Ian Bostridge (tenor), David Daniels (countertenor), Christopher Maltman (baritone), Timothy Brown (horn), Aline Brewer (harp) & Julius Drake (piano)

Two songs by Thomas Hardy

Neil Mackie (tenor) & Roger Vignoles (piano)

Beware

Neil Mackie (tenor) & Roger Vignoles (piano)

Two songs by W.H. Auden

Neil Mackie (tenor) & Roger Vignoles (piano)

Three rhymes by William Soutar

Neil Mackie (tenor) & Roger Vignoles (piano)

Tit for Tat

Jonathan Lemalu (bass baritone) & Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Two Ballads for two voices and piano

Felicity Lott (soprano) & Ann Murray (mezzo-soprano)

Folksong arrangements

Robert Tear (tenor) & Sir Philip Ledger (piano)

Folksong arrangements

Sarah Brightman (soprano) & Geoffrey Parsons (piano)

Paul Bunyan

Soloists, Chorus & Orchestra of the Plymouth Music Series, Philip Brunelle

Peter Grimes

Recorded: VI.1992, Watford Town Hall

Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Felicity Lott, Thomas Allen, Patricia Payne, Maria Bovino, Gillian Webster, Stuart Kale, Stafford Dean, Sarah Walker, Neil Jenkins, Simon Keenlyside, David Wilson-Johnson

Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Bernard Haitink

The Turn of the Screw

Recorded: 17–19.I.2002, Maltings Concert Hall, Snape, Suffolk

Ian Bostridge, Joan Rodgers, Julian Leang, Caroline Wise, Jane Henschel, Vivian Tierney

Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Harding

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Recorded: XI.1990

James Bowman, Lillian Watson, Dexter Fletcher, John Graham-Hall, Henry Herford, Della Jones, Jill Gomez, Norman Bailey, Penelope Walker

Trinity Boys’ Choir, City of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox

The Rape of Lucretia

Abridged recording of the revised version (1947), Recorded: 16–19.VII. & 19.X.1947, No.1 Studio, Abbey Road, London

Peter Pears, Joan Cross, Norman Lumsden, Denis Dowling, Frederick Sharp, Nancy Evans, Flora Nielsen, Margaret Ritchie

English Opera Group Chamber Orchestra, Reginald Goodall


Benjamin Britten was born on the day of the Patron Saint of Music – St. Cecilia – 22nd November in 1913 in Lowestoft. He showed remarkable skill at composition from his earliest days. In 1924 he met Frank Bridge (1879-1941), a fine composer in his own right, and became his pupil; through him he developed an appreciation of contemporary music with scores by Bartók and the Schönberg school, particulary Berg.

In 1930 he entered the Royal College of Music and developed the pianistic skills which made him such a brilliant interpreter of both his own music and other greats particularly Mozart and Schubert. From these times date the beautiful A Hymn to the Virgin, Quatre Chansons Françaises and the Sinfonietta, his official Op. 1. He visited Vienna in 1934 and saw Wozzeck but family resistance prevented him studying with Berg (who, in any case, died from blood poisoning caused by an insect sting a year later).

He worked for some years in the film unit of the General Post Office where he met W.H. Auden whose poetry inspired the brilliant song cycle Our Hunting Fathers. The experience in the film unit enabled him to develop the expressive immediacy and technical abilities – often using small and unconventional resources – which would assist his composition of operas in the years to come.

In 1939 he decided to follow Auden to America, accompanying him was the tenor Peter Pears (1910-1986) who was to be the inspiration behind so many great operatic roles and song cycles. There he composed the Sinfonia da Requiem, the Michelangelo Sonnets and the First Quartet. His first opera, Paul Bunyan, to an Auden libretto, was also composed there but then withdrawn (it was revived for the Aldeburgh Festival in the year he died).

He started to get the pangs of homesickness especially when he read, by chance, an article by E.M. Forster on the Suffolk poet Crabbe (whose work was to lead to arguably his greatest success) and he returned to England in 1942. He wrote A Ceremony of Carols and Hymn to St. Cecilia (another Auden text) during this year.

For British Opera the date 7th June 1945 will always remain a red-letter day as it heralded the premiere of a masterpiece, Peter Grimes. The triumph not only established Britten as Purcell’s successor as Britain’s greatest music dramatist but its numerous performances abroad showed that Britain had an international composer celebrity.

The Rape of Lucretia was premiered the following year as was the work by which Britten is probably best remembered – certainly by thankful schoolchildren for their guide to the Orchestra. Here he subjects the theme by Purcell to a series of ingenious variations played by each member of the orchestra and then as groups and finally a fugue where everything comes together in a simply unforgettable coda.

Indeed when one examines Britten’s output it is hard not to credit him with at least one work of genius, if not a masterpiece, virtually every year for the rest of his composing life – whether it be an opera, for example The Turn of the Screw in 1954 or A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1960; a choral work, for example Spring Symphony in 1949 or the War Requiem in 1961, a large vocal work, for example Serenade for tenor, horn and strings in 1943, Nocturne in 1958 and Phaedra in 1975; a smaller vocal work, for example the Canticles of 1947, 1952, 1954, 1971 & 1974; the works he wrote for Mstislav Rostropovich – the Cello Sonata in 1961, the Cello Symphony in 1963 and the three Solo Cello Suites in 1964, 1967 & 1971; the two remaining string quartets in 1945 & 1975 and a full length ballet The Prince of the Pagodas in 1956.

Besides setting many classic poets from Britain including Blake, Burns, Coleridge, Donne, Hardy, Keats, Jonson, Milton, Owen, Shakespeare, Shelley, Spenser, Tennyson and Wordsworth he also set texts in French (Hugo, Rimbaud and Verlaine), Italian (Michelangelo), German (Hölderlin) and Russian (Pushkin). He was also partly responsible for the reawakening of interest in the music of his great predecessor, Henry Purcell by making realizations of a large number of his works. He also launched the music festival in his adopted town of Aldeburgh.

Released or re-released in last 6 months

EMI - 2175262

(CD - 37 discs)

Normally: $111.99

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