Music in the Making

Extract

Britten's name was first included under this heading in our January number. That it should re-appear so soon is symptomatic not of an undue haste in the writing of his works, but rather of the unusual faculty he possesses for mentally conceiving and moulding his ideas, so that the actual writing and welding of them is achieved in a very short time. A considerable stream of music has flowed from the Britten fountain since the beginning of the year. His music for J. P. Priestley's Johnson over Jordan, produced in London a few months ago, was very favourably received—somewhat more so than the play, we fear. A choral work, Ballad of Heroes, was also commissioned from him, and as an example of the faculty just referred to it might be mentioned that the piano score of this work was handed to our editorial office only six days after it was begun. The orchestration was completed three weeks later.