Record Review

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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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Music: Classical

A thorough look at the week's classical music releases, plus news and recommendations.

A thorough look at the week's classical music releases, plus news and the Radio 3 Disc of the Week recommendation.

Record Review: Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with Sarah Willis and Andrew McGregor

Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with Sarah Willis and Andrew McGregor

BBC Radio 3 - Record Review, Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with Sarah Willis and Andrew McGregor

Sarah Willis picks a favourite recording of Britten's Serenade for tenor, horn and strings

Sarah Willis picks a favourite recording of Britten's Serenade for tenor, horn and strings. Plus, Tom Service has been listening to the latest recordings of Bruckner's symphonies.

9.30 am
Building a Library
Sarah Willis chooses her favourite recording of Benjamin Britten's Serenade for tenor, horn and strings. 

The Serenade's status as a darkly dazzling 20th-century classic is founded on Britten's unerring ear for finding and setting English poetry, coupled with his instinctive sense of instrumental and vocal virtuosity. Its six texts, from Ben Johnson to Tennyson, deal with night and the corruption of innocence, themes which preoccupied Britten throughout his career. Both the solo writing and the interplay between voice and horn are based on the strengths of the two musicians for which it was written, Britten's long-time partner, Peter Pears and the horn player Dennis Brain. They made the first recording in 1944, a year after the premiere, and since then many subsequent recordings, most often featuring British tenors, have followed.

10.40 am
Tom Service has been listening to the latest releases of Bruckner from, among others, the on-going symphony cycles of Andris Nelsons in Leipzig and Christian Thielemann in Vienna.

11.20 am
Record of the Week 
An outstanding new release

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with Sarah Willis and Andrew McGregor

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