Just for the record, the page turner is Sue Phipps, Peter Pears’ niece and a familiar figure at Aldeburgh Festivals for many years, who died quite recently, in the same year as this video was posted, as it happens. Lovely to be reminded of these musicians - thank you so much.
Yes, I recognised her immediately, despite her dark hair. I too learnt of her death, rather later than you… & felt sad. She may be the last of the close Britten Coterie.
@@mckavitt13 Marya, I looked for your email address on the web, but I failed, so I'll post this reminiscence here, and the UA-camrs will have to put up with it! Before I went to university I worked at the Decca (London Records) studios, as a rather young tape editor, and they used to take me back in my academic holidays. The recording producers were very kind, and they sometimes organised things so that a young musician/engineer could meet some of the well-known artists. I ended up operating the tape machines when Britten and Pears came in to listen, for example, and later on I edited one or two of Britten's LPs. My parents were not at all wealthy, so when I turned 21 (in 1969), we couldn't afford a grand birthday party, but Decca gave me the use of Studio 1 on a free Sunday (6th April) at West Hampstead, and my university friends and I recorded some songs and instrumental pieces, just for fun. One of the producers, John Mordler I think, told me that Britten and Pears were coming in that day to listen to takes in Studio 3, the large studio. I reckoned my young friends would probably like to meet the great musicians, so we arranged to take our afternoon tea break in Studio 3 canteen, which was the only one open on a Sunday. BB and PP were sitting at a corner table with their tea and Decca's ubiquitous buttered rolls, and they were just like a magnet to my friends - in retrospect I should think some kind soul had tipped them off. Of course they were very keen on helping young people, so the prospect of some music students asking for their autographs was no problem, and they in return asked what we were all hoping to do with our lives. It's a nice memory, and I can always say that Ben and Peter came to my 21st birthday party! By the time I started going to Aldeburgh for work (regional Arts Council in the 1970s), it had become a haunt for the evening dress classes, but I did meet Imogen Holst once, at her cottage, when a friend who already knew her joined me in interviewing her for an arts magazine. I remember that we all knelt on her floor and looked at large scores, and when we left she stood on tiptoe by the rose arch in her garden and waved us down the road, just like a favourite aunt. It made me realise how exciting and informal the Aldeburgh Festival must have been in the 1950s, before commerce took over. These organisations inevitably have their life cycles, just like human beings, and you can't avoid it, but there must have been real magic and camaraderie when they were struggling to make do after the War. By the way, the English composer, Colin Matthews, who was at Nottingham University with me, became Britten's amanuensis for a number of years, so he is a surviving friend of of both Britten and Pears.
What a beautiful story to share. I am so delighted to read about this informal side to Britten, Pears and the Aldeburgh folks, and how kind and sympathetic they could be. You are very good to share these reminiscences, many thanks!
Alas, gone are the days when such recitals were common on BBC television, and the music so embedded in British culture that mainstream comedy satire (e.g. Dudley Moore) would be instantly recognisable to many.
His playing of Schubert's Wohin? is out of this world. No other pianist I've heard comes close. It's just too bad about Pears' singing which is particularly bad in that recording.
Has there ever been a better pianist than Britten? He is simply unbelievable.
Just for the record, the page turner is Sue Phipps, Peter Pears’ niece and a familiar figure at Aldeburgh Festivals for many years, who died quite recently, in the same year as this video was posted, as it happens. Lovely to be reminded of these musicians - thank you so much.
Yes, I recognised her immediately, despite her dark hair. I too learnt of her death, rather later than you… & felt sad. She may be the last of the close Britten Coterie.
@@mckavitt13 Marya, I looked for your email address on the web, but I failed, so I'll post this reminiscence here, and the UA-camrs will have to put up with it! Before I went to university I worked at the Decca (London Records) studios, as a rather young tape editor, and they used to take me back in my academic holidays. The recording producers were very kind, and they sometimes organised things so that a young musician/engineer could meet some of the well-known artists. I ended up operating the tape machines when Britten and Pears came in to listen, for example, and later on I edited one or two of Britten's LPs. My parents were not at all wealthy, so when I turned 21 (in 1969), we couldn't afford a grand birthday party, but Decca gave me the use of Studio 1 on a free Sunday (6th April) at West Hampstead, and my university friends and I recorded some songs and instrumental pieces, just for fun. One of the producers, John Mordler I think, told me that Britten and Pears were coming in that day to listen to takes in Studio 3, the large studio. I reckoned my young friends would probably like to meet the great musicians, so we arranged to take our afternoon tea break in Studio 3 canteen, which was the only one open on a Sunday. BB and PP were sitting at a corner table with their tea and Decca's ubiquitous buttered rolls, and they were just like a magnet to my friends - in retrospect I should think some kind soul had tipped them off. Of course they were very keen on helping young people, so the prospect of some music students asking for their autographs was no problem, and they in return asked what we were all hoping to do with our lives. It's a nice memory, and I can always say that Ben and Peter came to my 21st birthday party! By the time I started going to Aldeburgh for work (regional Arts Council in the 1970s), it had become a haunt for the evening dress classes, but I did meet Imogen Holst once, at her cottage, when a friend who already knew her joined me in interviewing her for an arts magazine. I remember that we all knelt on her floor and looked at large scores, and when we left she stood on tiptoe by the rose arch in her garden and waved us down the road, just like a favourite aunt. It made me realise how exciting and informal the Aldeburgh Festival must have been in the 1950s, before commerce took over. These organisations inevitably have their life cycles, just like human beings, and you can't avoid it, but there must have been real magic and camaraderie when they were struggling to make do after the War. By the way, the English composer, Colin Matthews, who was at Nottingham University with me, became Britten's amanuensis for a number of years, so he is a surviving friend of of both Britten and Pears.
What a beautiful story to share. I am so delighted to read about this informal side to Britten, Pears and the Aldeburgh folks, and how kind and sympathetic they could be. You are very good to share these reminiscences, many thanks!
Gerald Moore was right: Britten was absolutely the best piano accompanist in the world.
I totally agree. He is beyond next level.
Perfection PLUS! Inspired, Insightful, Divine...Sublime MAGIC from first note to last! Bravissimo!!!
Alas, gone are the days when such recitals were common on BBC television, and the music so embedded in British culture that mainstream comedy satire (e.g. Dudley Moore) would be instantly recognisable to many.
Wonderful!! thankyou. Veritably a master class - can't be done better.
Pears was the master of singing in English. The unaccompanied Shooting of his dear is a lesson to so-called folksingers!
Perfect diction... like Julie Andrews (in another register:)
Thanks for that, very rare footage of Manny.
Britten was a god on the piano. Don't care much for Pears but worth watching for Britten.
His playing of Schubert's Wohin? is out of this world. No other pianist I've heard comes close. It's just too bad about Pears' singing which is particularly bad in that recording.