CONTENTS

November 2013

Features

PRELUDES

NEWS ANALYSIS

CONTEMPORARY COMPOSERS

Has Haas written the first masterpiece of the 21st century?

10

13

15

SESSION REPORT

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at Trinity College, Cambridge

16

MUSICIAN’S DIARY

18

Rachel Podger on discovering Italian 17th-century violin music

ICONS

Tully Potter champions the Busch Quartet

20

THE MUSICIAN AND THE SCORE

Peter Phillips of The Tallis Scholars on returning to Taverner

22

LETTERS AND OBITUARIES

24

BRITTEN CENTENARY BRITTEN’S OPERAS

Britten biographer Paul Kildea explores how the composer reinvented the perception of opera in English, in England

30

BRITTEN IN AMERICA

36

Philip Clark on how Britten’s sojourn to New York, and the colourful set of people he met there, shaped him as a composer

BEST OF BRITTEN – LIVE AND ON RECORD 38 Britten’s 100th birthday is celebrated across the world in November. We select the best international live events alongside recommendations for this year’s best new Britten recordings

MUSICAL JOURNEYS

Magical happenings in Levo∂a, Slovakia, and Ribe, Denmark

103

HIGH FIDELITY

107

A new high-end SACD player and a tabletop all-in-one system

NEW RELEASES

REVIEWS INDEX

118

120

MY MUSIC

122

Ashmoleon director Christopher Brown on his love of the voice

6 GRAMOPHONE NOVEMBER 2013

16 Session report: Stephen Layton tackles Bach

Britten

100

30 Centenary celebration: how Britten shaped British opera

103 Langgaard versus Wagner: festivities in Ribe gramophone.co.uk

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P H O T O G R A P H Y