Summary

Britten’s final great masterpiece, written just before his death in 1976, is based on the dramatic legend Phaedra, a noblewoman who falls unrequitedly in love with her stepson, causes his death, and then takes her own life. Mezzo Allison Cook performs this taut, devastating work in addition to two arias composed by Handel.

Britten Sinfonia is joined too by award-winning Iranian-American harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, who plays a keyboard concerto by Bach in addition to the vital harpsichord part in the orchestral accompaniment to Phaedra.