Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976)

Sinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20
Lacrymosa
Dies irae
Requiem aeternam
Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes, Op. 33
Dawn
Sunday Morning
Moonlight
Stonn
Passacaglia, Op. 33b
An American Overture

Benjamin Britten occupies an unrivalled position in English music of the twentieth century and a place of the greatest importance in the wider musical world. While Elgar was in some ways part of late nineteenth century German romantic tradition, Britten avoided the trap offered by musical nationalism and the insular debt to folk-music of his older contemporaries, while profiting from that tradition in a much wider European context. He may be seen as following in part a path mapped out by Mahler. He possessed a special gift for word-setting and vocal writing, a facility that Purcell had shown and that was the foundation of a remarkable series of operas that brought English opera for the