The Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Lawrence Foster. Benjamin Britten - Music Box, May 4th 2026

An album by the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Lawrence Foster, was released at the Alpha record label on April 24th, on which we can find works by Benjamin Britten. The 4th of December 2026 will be the 50th anniversary of the English composer's death, and a disc featuring some of his representative works is, naturally, to be expected.

First of all, on this disc, Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, this educational work by Benjamin Britten, which is based on a theme by Henry Purcell from the opera Abdelazer, which it then develops across all sections of a symphony orchestra. I believe that everyone from my generation associates this theme with the adaptation of the novel "The Three Musketeers" - from the LPs we listened to during childhood, this one being associated with the Duke of Buckingham. Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra is a score composed in 1945 especially made for an educational documentary released in November 1946, entitled "The Instruments of the Orchestra"- the score was performed by the London Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by Malcolm Sargent.

We observe in the performance proposed by the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Lawrence Foster, the attention to detail and accuracy.

Lawrence Foster, the well-known American conductor of Romanian descent, now 84 years old, led the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra between 1980 and 1990, though he continued to record with this orchestra later on as well. Moreover, along with this orchestra, he recorded between 2005 and 2009 the main Enescu works: rhapsodies, symphonies, Poéme roumain, and suites, as well as the opera Oedipe, by which he gained major success.

The Britten album features works from Benjamin Britten's oeuvre that display Impressionist or Neoclassical nuances. The impressionistic atmosphere is specific to the song cycle Les Illuminations, a 1940 work set to poetry by Arthur Rimbaud. This is, moreover, the work which particularly caught the attention of international critics, due to the presence of soprano Julie Roset, a 29-year-old French woman who earned first place at the Operalia Competition în 2023 and a Victoires de la Musique in 2025. The Gramophone reviewer notes, "It is one of the best performances of this work I have ever heard", highlighting the soloist's brilliant timbre and immaculate intonation, as well as her vocal colour which is ideal for this work.

Yes, it is a beautiful interpretation by this lyric coloratura soprano voice, in a score that contains multiple technically difficult passages, but in which I also notice the conductor's experience and talent in working with the human voice.

The album continues with a neoclassical work: courtly dances taken from the opera Gloriana. It is a 1953 score composed on the occasion of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. The premiere took place just 6 days after the Queen's coronation, in the presence of the whole royal family - a homage also paid to the first English Queen named Elizabeth, who was called Gloriana by Renaissance poets. Inspired music, evocative of the era, yet deeply expressive.