Britten’s performance of Romeo and Juliet is superb and highly unusual. He deploys his chamber orchestra (meaning in this case a smaller than usual string section) for maximum effect. The uprushing harp arpeggios in the introduction bring a real thrill of anticipation; the battle music surges, and the famous love theme is played with such sweetness and delicacy that more obviously emotional interpretations sound positively indecent by comparison. This performance alone is worth the price of the disc, and is by far the best thing on it. Francesca da Rimini works much less well. It sounds underpowered, lacks impact, and the end is very strange: Britten holds the final chord and makes a diminuendo as at the end of Dvorák’s “New World” Symphony, a bizarre and unconvincing effect. The Manuel de Falla ballet goes somewhat better; Britten’s affection for the music is evident in countless small details as well as in his indulgent, relaxed tempos. Anna Reynolds, though, has got to be the most unidiomatic, uninvolved, passionless singer the work has ever had. Never mind, you really should hear that Romeo!
