Opera Wednesday

Besides being perhaps the first great British composer of opera since Purcell, Benjamin Britten was a superb composer of orchestral music. Here we see an example of both traits, in the four Sea Interludes from the opera Peter Grimes. They're often performed, as here, in an orchestral suite, and while they're very impressive, they're even more powerful when taken in the context of the opera.

This is Sakari Oramo, conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Proms in 2013.

Opera Wednesday: Gay and Britten's The Beggar's Opera

Continuing our theme of 20th Century opera on Opera Wednesday, it's Benjamin Britten, one of my favorite 20th Century composers, with his realization of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, as seen on BBC in 1963.  This is the complete broadcast, with the music performed by the English Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Meredeth Davies.