Tony Palmer - BRITTEN AT 100 [4DVD BOXSET]

Format: 4 x DVD
Catalogue No.: TPDVDBOX4
Barcode: 5060230862439
Release Date: 11 Nov 2013

(REGION 0 NTSC)

This special collection of Tony Palmer's films about Benjamin Britten and his music include 'A Time  There Was', 'Benjamin Britten and his Festival', 'Death in Venice' and 'The Burning Fiery Furnace'. An exclusive feature of the box set is a 58-page booklet that includes Britten's famous, but long out-of-print, 1964 Aspen Award Speech, illustrated with over  fifty photos, some never previously published. 

 Benjamin Britten and his Festival: offers a behind the scenes look at the Aldeburgh Festival. It was  made for the BBC in 1967 to commemorate the opening of Snape Concert Hall.

 A Time There Was: made in 1979 at the request of Peter Pears, this release sees it newly re-mastered  in wide-screen stereo. Appearing in the documentary are Janet Baker, Julian Bream, Sviatoslav Richter, Leonard Bernstein, Britten's brother and sisters, Pears himself and a host of the composer's close friends.

 Death in Venice: was made on location in Venice in 1981. This film version of the opera features John  Shirley-Quirk and James Bowman from the original cast with Australian tenor Robert Gard taking Pears's role of Aschenbach, and Steuart Bedford conducting the English Chamber Orchestra.

 The Burning Fiery Furnace: is a film about the recording of the church parable in Orford Church, made  for the BBC in 1967. It is a major historic document as it provides the longest single piece of film of Britten working, with a cast including Peter Pears, John Shirley-Quirk and Robert Tear.