The three orchestral song cycles collected here are central to the Britten canon of recorded repertoire and whereas Pears’ other recordings of the ‘Serenade’ and ‘Les Illuminations’ (with Boyd Neel and Benjamin Britten as conductors) have been in circulation, this mono recording with Goossens receives its first and much-anticipated release on CD. All three recordings […]

On 24 June 1936, Peter Pears joined his BBC Singers colleague, contralto Anne Wood, at Decca’s studio in Upper Thames Street in the City of London to make his very first commercial recording, of Peter Warlock’s setting of the Corpus Christi carol for unaccompanied voices. The year marked a turning-point for Pears: he met Benjamin […]