Recordings

*** BRITTEN: Double Concerto; other works; Gidon Kremer, violin; Yuri Bashmet, viola; Kent Nagano, conductor, Halle Orchestra Erato

Three of the four works here are drawn from Britten’s late teenage years and include two pieces--”Two Portraits” and the Double Concerto--that were not performed during his lifetime. This disc offers them in their first recording. A later work, “The Young Apollo,” was withdrawn shortly after its premiere, so it, too, is new to most of us. The early works announce a major and accomplished talent. The portraits juxtapose a school chum’s vigor and savoir-faire with the composer’s languor and reserve. The Double Concerto soars with invention. “The Young Apollo” radiates energy and optimism. The fourth work, the Sinfonietta (the official Opus 1, here in its small orchestra version) is expansive and seductive.

Violinist Kremer, violist Bashmet and pianist Nikolai Lugansky execute their duties faultlessly, while Nagano conducts with affection.