Aldeburgh Music

Ben Johnson tenor
Graham Johnson piano

Purcell arr. Britten
I attempt from Loves sickness to fly
Not all my torments
I'll sail upon the Dog-star
There's not a swain on the plain
Man is for the woman made

Bridge
So perverse
Isobel
Come to me in my dreams
Go not, happy day

Britten On this Island

Oldham Five Chinese Lyrics

Mahler Rückert Lieder

As his notable performance as the Novice in Glyndebourne’s recent Billy Budd and his Holy Sonnets of John Donne at the 2009 Aldeburgh Festival bear witness, outstanding young tenor Ben Johnson has a burgeoning affinity with the music of Britten, and his partnership with Graham Johnson is a prospect to savour.
 
Britten is at the heart of a programme that weaves darkly enigmatic Auden settings with some of the neglected treasure trove of songs by his teacher
together with a rarity from Britten’s own pupil. The teenage Britten’s ardent admiration for Gustav Mahler’s music seems never to have been extinguished, making the richly burnished beauty of Mahler’s exquisite Rückert settings a natural companion.