Meeting in Music: Britten B

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Following the guide below you will be able to create the ultimate HQ rip and upload for sharing here at the Meeting in Music Internet Community or on your own blog if you have one.

RIPPING A CD USING EXACT AUDIO COPY (EAC)

1. Start Exact Audio Copy and load the clean and scratchless CD into you drive.
2. Pressing ALT+G will pull track and album info from the FreeDB database if this feature is set up properly.
3. If no info is found the CD is not registered in the database and you will have to type in the info manually.
4. Adjust the Drive Settings according to the model of your drive and enable the ”Create Log-file” option.
5. Adjust the Compression Settings to rip in Flac format at 768 kBit/s. Alternatively rip in the Ape fomat.
6. Rip the CD by pressing Action -> Test & Copy Image & Create CUE Sheet -> Compressed...
7. Check the log-file to see if any ripping errors or AccurateRip inaccuracies were registered.

SCANNING THE COVERS OF THE ALBUM

1. Scans of the front and back covers should be included if available as should the booklet. 300dpi is standard.

COMPRESSING THE FOLDER USING WINRAR

1. Wrap the audio files and images in a folder marked the composer and album name etc.
2. Set Compression method to ”Store” and the volume size to 200000000. Add a 3% recovery record.
3. Compress the folder using a not-too-obvious filename.

UPLOADING TO A FILEHOST AND SHARING WITH THE WORLD

Now all you need to do is to upload the rar-files to a filehost of your choice. Mega.nz is the standard and most stable option but there are many others and some services even feature upload to multiple filehosts. Finally the download links are ready to be presented on your blog.

THE MEDIEVAL ERA (600 - 1450)

At around 500 AD, western civilization began to emerge from the period known as “The Dark Ages”, the time when invading hordes of Vandals, Huns and Visigoths overran Europe and brought an end to the Roman Empire. For the next ten centuries, the newly emerging Christian Church would dominate Europe, administering justice, instigating “Holy” Crusades against the East, establishing universities, and generally dictating the destiny of music, art and literature

During this time, Pope Gregory I is generally believed to have collected and codified the music known as Gregorian Chant, which was the approved music of the Church. Much later, the University at Notre Dame in Paris saw the creation of a new kind of music called organum.

Secular music was sung all over Europe by the troubadours and trouvères of France, and it was during the Middle Ages that western culture saw the arrival of the first great name in music, Guilliame de Machaut.

THE RENAISSANCE ERA (1450 - 1600)

Generally considered to be from c.1420 to 1600, the Renaissance (which literally means “rebirth”) was a time of great cultural awakening and a flowering of the arts, letters, and sciences throughout Europe.

With the rise of humanism, sacred music began for the first time to break free of the confines of the Church, and a school of composers trained in the Netherlands mastered the art of polyphony in their settings of sacred music. One of the early masters of the Flemish style was Josquin des Prez. These polyphonic traditions reached their culmination in the unsurpassed works of Giovanni da Palestrina.

The late Renaissance also saw in England the flourishing of the English madrigal, the best known of which were composed by such masters as John Dowland, William Byrd, Thomas Morley and others.

THE BAROQUE ERA (1600 - 1750)

Named after the popular ornate architectural style of the time, the Baroque period (c.1600 to 1750) saw composers beginning to rebel against the styles that were prevalent during the High Renaissance. Many monarchs employed composers at their courts, where they were little more than servants expected to churn out music for any desired occasions. The greatest composer of the period, Johann Sebastian Bach, was such a servant. Yet the best composers of the time were able to break new musical ground, and in so doing succeeded in creating an entirely new style of music.

The instrumental concerto became a staple of the Baroque era, and found its strongest exponent in the works of the Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi. Harpsichord music achieved new heights, due to the works of such masters as Domenico Scarlatti and others. But vocal and choral music still reigned supreme during this age, and culminated in the operas and oratorios of German-born composer George Frideric Handel.

THE CLASSICAL ERA (1750 - 1820)

From roughly 1750 to 1820, artists, architects, and musicians moved away from the heavily ornamented styles of the Baroque and the Rococo, and instead embraced a clean, uncluttered style they thought reminiscent of Classical Greece.

At this time the Austrian capital of Vienna became the musical centre of Europe, and works of the period are often referred to as being in the Viennese style. Composers came from all over Europe to train in and around Vienna, and gradually they developed and formalized the standard musical forms that were to dominate European musical culture for the next several decades. The Classical period reached its majestic culmination with the masterful symphonies, sonatas, and string quartets by the three great composers of the Viennese school: Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

During the same period, the first voice of the burgeoning Romantic musical ethic can be found in the music of Viennese composer Franz Schubert.

THE ROMANTIC ERA (1820 - 1910)

The earliest Romantic composers were all born within a few years of each other in the early years of the nineteenth century. These include the great German masters Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann; the Polish poet of the piano Frédéric Chopin; the French genius Hector Berlioz; and the greatest pianistic showman in history, the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. The field of Italian opera was dominated by Giuseppe Verdi, while German opera was virtually monopolized by Richard Wagner.

Composers like Antonin Dvorak began looking for ways in which they could express the musical soul of their homelands. Legends were therefore used as plots for operas, and folk melodies and dance rhythms were frequently used as inspiration for symphonies and instrumental music.

With the continued enhancement of instruments, plus the invention of new ones, the late Romantic composers of the second half of the nineteenth-century created richer and ever larger symphonies, ballets, and concertos. Two of the giants of this period are the German-born Johannes Brahms and the great Russian melodist Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY ERA (1910 - 1960)

In the early part of the twentieth century music became either outwardly expressive (as in the early symphonic poems of Richard Strauss, the huge symphonies of Gustav Mahler, or the operas of Giacomo Puccini), or more introverted (as in the so-called “impressionist” music of Claude Debussy). The previous century’s tide of Nationalism found a twentieth century advocate in the Hungarian Béla Bartók.

In a time of deepening psychological awareness, the expressionistic music of Arnold Schoenberg and his disciples germinated and flourished for a time.

Twentieth-century music has seen a great coming and going of various movements, among them post-romanticism, serialism and neo-classicism in the earlier years of the century, all of which were practiced at one time or another by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky.

Many of the greatest and best-known composers of the century, including Russian composers Sergei Rachmaninov, Sergei Prokofiev, and Dmitri Shostakovich along with British composers William Walton and Benjamin Britten were those who wrote music directly descended from the approved models of the past, while investing these forms with a style and modernistic tone of their own.

THE LATE 20TH CENTURY ERA (1940 - 2000)

Composers of this era sought to free music from its rigidity, placing the performance above the composition. Similarly, many composers sought to break from traditional performance rituals by incorporating theatre and multimedia into their compositions, going beyond sound itself to achieve their artistic goals. In some cases the line is difficult to draw between genres. Composers were quick to adopt developing electronic technology. As early as the 1940s, composers such as Olivier Messiaen incorporated electronic instruments into live performance. Recording technology was used to produce art music, as well.

The musique concrète of the late 1940s and ’50s was produced by editing together natural and industrial sounds. Steve Reich created music by manipulating tape recordings of people speaking, and later went on to compose process music for traditional instruments based on such recordings. Other notable pioneers of electronic music include Edgard Varèse, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luigi Nono, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

As more electronic technology matured, so did the music. In the 1950s aleatoric music was first championed by American composer John Cage. Early minimalist compositions of the 1960s such as those by Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass stemmed from aleatoric and electronic music.

THE CONTEMPORARY ERA (from 1975)

In the broadest sense, contemporary music is any music being written in the present day. In the context of classical music the term has been applied to music written in the last quarter century or so, particularly works post-1975. Minimalism was practiced heavily throughout the latter half of the century and has carried over into the 21st century, with composers like Arvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki and John Tavener working in the more popular “mystic minimalism” variant.

Recently there has been increasing stylistic variety, with far too many schools of composition to name or label. However, in general, there are three broad trends. The first is the continuation of modern avant-garde traditions, including musical experimentalism. The second are schools which sought to revitalize a tonal style based on previous common practice. The third focuses on non-functional triadic harmony, exemplified by composers working in the minimalist and related traditions.

10/11/2019

John Eliot Gardiner: Britten - War Requiem & Spring Symphony

Benjamin Britten:

1.01 - 1.12 Spring Symphony, op.44* [41'31]
1.13 - 1.15 Hymn to St. Cecilia, op.27 [9'46]
1.16 - 1.20 Five Flower Songs, op.47 [10'33]
1.21 + 1.22 + 2.01 - 2.17 War Requiem, op.66# [83'19]

The Monteverdi Choir

*Alison Hagley- soprano; Catherine Robbin- alto; John Mark Ainsley- tenor; Boy and Girl Choristers of Salisbury Cathedral; Philharmonia Orchestra

#Luba Orgonasova- soprano; Anthony Rolfe Johnson- tenor; Boje Skovhus- baritone; Tolz Boys Choir; NDR Chorus; NDR Symphony Orchestra

all conducted by John Eliot Gardiner

Deutsche Grammophon 459 5092 (recorded June 1995 and August 1992#; this CD release 2002)

(CD-rip; flacs,50-page booklet, cover and inlay scans)
READ MORE...

8/23/2019

Benjamin Britten: Mahler - Symphony No.4

Gustav Mahler:
01. - 04. Symphony No.4 in C major* [53'08]
05. - 08. Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen# [16'32]
09. - 10. Lieder aus Des Knaben Wunderhorn - 'Das iridische Leben' & 'Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht' ^ [8'34]
11. Bonus track. (arr, Britten) Symphony No. 3 - II. What the wild flowers tell me [10'03]

Joan Carlyle- soprano, London Symphony Orchestra*; Anna Reynolds- mezzo#, Elly Ameling- soprano^; English Chamber Orchestra, all conducted by Benjamin Britten

BBC Legends BBCB8004 (in concert recordings - July 1961*, June 1972# and June 1969; this CD issued 1999)

(CD-rip; stereo flacs - *mono; booklet, cover and inlay scans)
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7/18/2019

Britten - Sinfonia da Requiem, Sea Interludes - Previn

Benjamin Britten

SINFONIA DA REQUIEM

FOUR SEA INTERLUDES AND PASSACAGLIA
from Peter Grimes

London Symphony Orchestra
dir : André Previn

EMI ASD 3154 stereo/quadraphonic LP [P] 1976

Individual FLAC files, scans
Offered in both standard resolution (44.1/16) and hi-res (96/24)

The audio chain I use to rip LPs: (1) the LPs are cleaned using a VPI H!-16 record cleaning machine, using TTVJ Vinyl-Zyme Gold cleaning fluid, (2) ripped on a Nakamichi Dragon CT self-centering turntable with integral tonearm and Ortofon cartridge, (3) processed by a Korg DS-DAC-10R (RIAA setting), (4) then recorded and edited using AudioGate 4, Adobe Audition and iZotope RX software.

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5/16/2019

Andrew Davis: Britten Orchestral Works

Benjamin Britten:
01. The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, op.34 [17'01]
02. - 12. Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, op.10 [27'46]
13. - 16. Four Sea Interludes from 'Peter Grimes', op.33a [15.41]
17. Passacaglia from 'Peter Grimes', op.33b [6'45]

BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Davis

Warner Apex 8573 89082 2 (recorded October 1990; this CD release 2010)

(digital download; flacs, cover and inlay scans, no booklet)

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5/13/2019

Britten Noye's Fludde - HDTT 24/192

Benjamin Britten

NOYE'S FLUDDE (1957)
Owen Brannigan, Sheila Rex, Trevor Anthony
AN East Suffolk Children's Orchestra
English Chamber Orchestra
dir : Norman Del Mar

Recorded by Decca, 3-4 July 1961 at Orford Church, Suffolk

HDTT 7704 stereo, 24 bit /192 kHz direct digital download

FLAC files, documentation, libretto from LP issue

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4/04/2019

Adrian Boult: Nixa/Westminster Recordings Vol.1

1.01. - 1.04. William Walton - Symphony No.1 in B-flat minor [43'17]
1.05 - 1.10. Edward Elgar - Falstaff. Symphonic Study, op.68 [33'48]
2.01. - 2.04. Edward Elgar - Symphony No.2 in E-flat major, op.63 [52'33]
2.05. Edward Elgar - Cockaigne. Overture, op.40 'In London Town' [14'02]
2.06. - 2.10. Benjamin Britten (from miscellaneous pieces by Rossini) - Soirees musicales, op.9 [8'59]
3.01. - 3.21. Benjamin Britten - The Young Person's Guide the Orchestra,op.34 (narrated version*) [19'38]
3.22. - 3.26. Benjamin Britten (from miscellaneous pieces by Rossini) - Matinees musicales, op.24 [13'13]
3.27. - 3.31. Benjamin Britten - Peter Grimes. Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia, op.33 [24'14]
3.32. Benjamin Britten - The Young Person's Guide the Orchestra 'Variations and Fugue on a theme of Purcell', op.34 [18'55]

Adrian Boult- narrator*, London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult

First Hand Records FHR006 (recorded August 1956 for Pye Nixa/Westminster; this CD/Digital release 2010)

(Digital download; stereo flacs [excepting *mono], booklet and cover scans)
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2/28/2019

Purcell - Dido and Aeneas - Britten

BRITTEN THE PERFORMER

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Dido and Aeneas
Opera in 3 acts, edited by Benjamin Britten and Imogene Holst

Claire Watson, Peter Pears, Jeannette Sinclair
Arda Mandikian, Patricia Clark, Jean Allister
Rosemary Philips, John Hahessy, Michael Ronayne
Purcell Singers, English Opera Group Orchestra
George Malcom, harpsichord continuo
dir : Benjamin Britten

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10/03/2018

There is Sweet Music

There is Sweet Music. English Choral Songs, 1890 - 1950

56 minutes of 20 a cappella settings including:

Charles Villiers Stanford: The blue bird
Frederick Delius: To be sung of a summer night on the water
Edward Elgar: There is Sweet Music
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Three Shakespeare Songs
Seven folk-song arrangements
Benjamin Britten: Five Flower Songs

The Cambridge Singers conducted by John Rutter

Collegium COLCD104 (recorded February 1986; CD issued 1986)

(CD-rip; FLACs, cover, inlay and booklet scans)
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7/17/2018

Britten: The Rape of Lucretia – Knussen – Aldeburgh 2011

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
The Rape of Lucretia

Ian Bostridge, Susan Gritton, Christopher Purves, Benjamin Russel, Peter Coleman-Wright, Angelika Kirchschlager, Hilary Summers, Claire Booth
Aldeburgh Festival Ensemble
Oliver Knussen
Virgin Classics 50999 6026722 1 (2011)
[flac, cue, log, partial scans]

Oliver Knussen (1952-2018)

5/31/2018

Another Faustian Bargain: Schumann Kreutzer Eben Gounod

Schumann
Szenen aus Goethes Faust

Fischer-Dieskau, Harwood, Shirley-Quirk, Pears, Vyvyan,
Palmer, Dickinson, Hodgson
Wandsworth School Choir
Aldeburgh Festival Singers
English Chamber Orchestra
Benjamin Britten

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