Kevin Sutton replies to D. Stephen Heersink:

>I am curious as to just how much of Britten you have digested.  The War
>Requiem? Peter Grimes? Turn of the Screw? Rejoice in the Lamb? Hardly
>boring. As for Pears' voice, indeed it was unique, but I know of few other
>English speaking singers who could so deftly interpret a text. I am reminded
>of how I was moved when I first heard the Great Bear and  Pleades (sp?)
>monologue, or the "Move him into the sun" passage from the War Requiem.

The relationship between Britten and Pears gave, it seems to me, an
enormously valuable and beautiful gift to music of the 20th century.  I am
not myself gay; I cannot even claim that some of my best friends are gay,
because for some reason I tend not to relate very well to gay people, nor
they to me:  but this particular partnership - with all its ups and downs,
its storms, rows and petty jealousies - is nevertheless one of the finest
advertisements for the positive achievements of a long-term stable and
loving gay relationship.  Ben wrote for Peter; Peter sang for Ben - and
thereby gave us all something of immense, enduring value.

I'll quote just one example.  In the War Requiem, the Agnus Dei section is
a setting of a single poem, 'One ever hangs where shelled roads part' for
tenor solo (in English), in 5/16, with a chorus in the background intoning
the Latin words of the Agnus Dei.  As if to match the quintuple rhythm,
Britten also makes use of the pentatonic scale.  The moving poem progresses
to a gentle close, with the chorus on the words "requiem sempiternam"
holding a final chord (F sharp major, marked pppp) as a hum on the final
'm'.  What a great finish - except that isn't the finish!  The masterstroke
follows, because out of this almost imperceptible hum the tenor switches
into Latin and embarks - no lesser word will do - on an ascending phrase
such as only Britten could have conceived, so that the final plea, "Dona
nobis pacem" (this work is all about war, remember) begins on earth and
ends in heaven.  That movement, and particularly that final phrase, were
of course written for Pears, could only have been written for him like
that by his lover (I think), and his singing of it (on record) is quite
incomparable.  I have heard it sung beautifully by other very fine tenors,
but the unique quality of Pears' voice leaves all the others in the shade.

And if you want to get away from Britten's music, listen if you will to Ben
and Peter in 'Winterreise' - a revelation, especially in the song entitled
'Rast'.

Alan Moss
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