Summary

Moving into Britten’s centenary season, Britten Sinfonia’s celebrated lunchtime concerts explore Britten’s chamber music in context with his influences and contemporaries. Works dedicated to Peter Pears interweave with works inspired by Sitwell verse in this fascinating portrait performed by tenor Mark Padmore, one of Pears’ finest living interpreters. Britten’s friend Poulenc wrote his heartfelt Élégie in memory of hornist Dennis Brain whose artistry was the muse for so many composer, Britten among them. Bringing the programme’s themes together is a new work by Gerald Barry.