Britten: Our Hunting Fathers, Op. 8 Sinfonieorchester Basel, Ivor Bolton & Mark Padmore

• Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976): Our Hunting Fathers, Op. 8:
• 1 Britten: Our Hunting Fathers, Op. 8: Prologue 02:18
• 2 Britten: Our Hunting Fathers, Op. 8: II. Rats Away! 04:29
• 3 Britten: Our Hunting Fathers, Op. 8: III. Messalina 07:51
• 4 Britten: Our Hunting Fathers, Op. 8: IV. Dance of Death 06:35
• 5 Britten: Our Hunting Fathers, Op. 8: V. Epilogue and Funeral March 07:29
• Total Runtime 28:42

Info for Britten: Our Hunting Fathers, Op. 8

Ivor Bolton has been principal conductor of the Basel Symphony Orchestra since the beginning of the 2016 / 17 season and has always had a special affinity with British music. The present album with rather unknown music by Benjamin Britten was therefore a very special concern for him from the beginning. The program consists of the early cycle Our Hunting Fathers (with the tenor Mark Padmore), the Quatre Chansons francaises (a stroke of genius by the only 14-year-old) and the suite from the unfortunately rarely performed opera Gloriana, which, by the way, was written for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Mark Padmore, tenor
Christina Landhamer, soprano
Alasdair Kent, tenor
Sinfonieorchester Basel
Ivor Bolton, conductor

Mark Padmore
British tenor Mark Padmore was born in London in 1961 and grew up in Canterbury. Initially he studied clarinet, but in 1979 he moved to King's College as a "Choral Scholar" and to the vocal discipline. In 1991 he began his close collaboration with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, and in 1992 with Philippe Herreweghe and the Collegium Vocale Gent. Padmore soon achieved world fame, especially as an evangelist and tenor soloist in Bach's choral works. From the 1990s onwards, however, he also made a name for himself as an opera interpreter: he appeared in Peter Brook's production of Don Giovanni in Aix-en-Provence, made a guest appearance as Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, performed Handel's Jephtha at the English National Opera and took part in staged performances of the Bach Passions with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. At the Glyndebourne Festival he appeared as Captain Vere in Britten's Billy Budd, and in Aldeburgh he premiered two one-act operas by Sir Harrison Birtwistle. In the 2016/17 season, Mark Padmore made his mark on the program of the BR Symphony Orchestra as artist-in-residence, and in 2017/18 he occupies the same position with the Berliner Philharmoniker. He also has close collaborations with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Britten Sinfonia. Padmore devotes himself intensively to lieder singing: Für seine Aufnahme der Schubert-Liedzyklen mit Paul Lewis erhielt er 2010 den «Vocal Solo Award» des Magazins Gramophone, für Schumanns Dichterliebe mit Kristian Bezuidenhout 2011 den «Edison Award» und für seine Deutung von Brittens Serenade und Nocturne 2013 den «Echo Klassik». 2016 kürte ihn das Magazin Musical America zum «Vocalist of the Year». Mark Padmore is artistic director of the St. Endellion Summer Music Festival in Cornwall.

Ivor Bolton
has been principal conductor of the Basel Symphony Orchestra since the beginning of the 2016/17 season. He took over from American conductor Dennis Russell Davies, who led the orchestra from 2009-2016. Bolton was principal conductor at the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, with which he has appeared annually at the Salzburg Festival and on tour since 2000, including the BBC Proms in London in 2006. Among his considerable repertoire of CD releases, the highly successful series of Bruckner symphonies is especially noteworthy. Since September 2015, he has held the position of principal conductor at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

In the UK, he has been principal conductor of English Touring Opera, Glyndebourne Touring Opera and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He enjoys a close relationship with the Bavarian State Opera, where he has conducted a large number of new productions since 1994. Of particular note are performances of works by Monteverdi, Handel and Mozart. He was awarded the prestigious Bavarian Theater Prize for his outstanding work in Munich. Ivor Bolton has been a regular guest at the Maggio Musiciale Fiorentino and the Opéra National de Paris. Other operatic engagements have taken him to Covent Garden, English National Opera and the concert halls of Aix-en-Provence, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna, Brussels, Dresden, Geneva, Hamburg, Lisbon, Madrid, Sydney, Vienna and Zurich.

For orchestral concerts, Ivor Bolton has been a guest at the BBC Proms, the Dresden Music Festival and Lincoln Center New York, among others. He has worked with the following orchestras, among others: Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Freiburger Barockorchester, Philharmoniker Hamburg, Münchner Philharmoniker, Orchestra Sinfonica Milano die Guiseppe Verdi, Orchestra de Paris, RAI Turin, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, Wiener Kammerorchester and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.

In addition to his numerous recordings with the Mozarteum Orchestra, Ivor Bolton's discography includes Monteverdi's Poppea, Handel's Xerxes, Giulio Cesare and Ariodante which he recorded with the Bavarian State Opera as well as DVDs of Deidamia from Amsterdam, Theodora from Salzburg and Jenufa from Madrid. With the Basel Symphony Orchestra he has recorded the CD Of Madness and Love. The series "The Secret Fauré" is released on the Sony Classical label.

The Basel Symphony Orchestra
The Süddeutsche Zeitung puts it in a nutshell: "You have to experience the Basel Symphony Orchestra once with its principal conductor Ivor Bolton, then you know what this fabulous orchestra is capable of." In its own concert series, at the Theater Basel, as well as in guest performances at home and abroad, the innovative orchestra proves its high sound culture time and again. The principal conductor since the 2016/2017 season has been the Briton Ivor Bolton. For some years now, the Basel Symphony Orchestra has also increasingly shown an international presence, most recently with UK tours in 2014, 2015 and 2017, the 'Far East Tour' in spring 2015, a European tour with David Garrett in March 2017, a tour of Germany with Jonas Kaufmann in January 2019 and, on the occasion of the Beethoven anniversary, the 'Prometheus Tour' with Peter Simonischek in spring 2020.

This album contains no booklet.