Benjamin Britten was one of the most important cultural figures in England in the twentieth century. Internationally renowned as a composer, performer, and founder of the Aldeburgh Festival and English Opera Group, he had a career spanning nearly five decades, producing a series of works such as Peter Grimes and the War Requiem that caught the public imagination, and becoming a familiar figure to worldwide concert and TV and radio audiences through his conducting and song recitals with his partner, the tenor Peter Pears. Behind this public face, however, Britten was an intensively private man, who valued perhaps more than anything the time he spent at home on the Suffolk coast, composing and enjoying a settled domestic life.
Britten in Pictures celebrates the many facets of Britten's life in a major new photographic treatment timed to coincide with the composer's centenary in 2013. Using the wealth of images housed in the collections of The Britten-Pears Foundation at Aldeburgh, the book charts the curve of Britten's life, using a selection of rare and previously unpublished images to reveal him anew in all phases of his career, catching a multitude of informal glimpses of the man 'behind the scenes' at work and play as well as in more familiar formal settings. The result is a new and often surprising portrait of this major musical genius.
Published in association with The Britten-Pears Foundation.
Reviews
A unique and highly recommended body of captioned images, "Britten in Pictures" will be of special interest to his legions of fans and students of his life and accomplishments. MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
Every Britten lover will want to own this sumptuous book. STRINGENDO
Walker has worked diligently on telling the full story of Britten's life throughout pictures [...] Walker's superb collation of this visual material will prove indispensable during the centenary year and beyond. CLASSICAL MUSIC
Given that no biography ever contains enough illustrations, Lucy Walker's Britten in Pictures [...] is especially welcome [...] A fascinating essay by Christopher Grogan analyses the way Britten presented himself in photographs and paintings, and the book also includes pictures of opera sets, costume designs, photographs of manuscripts and - most touchingly - some of the letters Britten and Pears wrote to each other. DAILY TELEGRAPH
For anyone interested in Britten an essential buy, with much to discover. BMS NEWS
Britten was uncomfortable in front of a camera, at best hiding his true self behind an 'enigmatic smile'. [...] but [these pictures] reveal a more relaxed, happier man to set against the tense, darkly troubled persona suggested by many of his later works. BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
[A] truly magnificent collection of hundreds of images in color and black and white from the composer's childhood to a poignant chapter on the events immediately after his death, and in his memory. [...]
Britten in Pictures is a vibrant and colorful addition to the bookshelf of anyone interested in understanding the music and musicianship of Britten in his centenary year. CLASSICAL.NET
This collection is a must-buy for all devotees of one of the greatest composers of the last century. MUSIC.WEB.INTERNATIONAL
