Featuring the first recording of BRITTEN's Les Illuminations, Op. 18 sung in English, from a brand new translation by Timothy Ades. Also includes the original French version. Coupled with Samuel BARBER's dramatic masterpiece Knoxville Summer of 1915, Op. 24, written just a few years after Les Illuminations.Among the most personal and powerful music ever written for the human voice, Britten and Barber's masterpiece settings of texts by Rimbaud and Agee continue to resonate intensely. Taken together, they form bookends to the cataclysms of the 20th century, with it's two life-shattering world wars. The colours, verbal and harmonic, of such human drama are a dazzling mix, running the gamut of life in dramatic flux. Mild mannered it is not, though parts are hauntingly beautiful. Album Tracks 1. Illuminations, Op. 18~I. Fanfare 2. Illuminations, Op. 18~II. Villes 3. Illuminations, Op. 18~IIIa. Phrase 4. Illuminations, Op. 18~IIIb. Antique 5. Illuminations, Op. 18~IV. Royauté 6. Illuminations, Op. 18~V. Marine 7. Illuminations, Op. 18~VI. Interlude 8. Illuminations, Op. 18~VII. Being Beauteous 9. Illuminations, Op. 18~VIII. Parade 10. Illuminations, Op. 18~IX. Départ 11. Knoxville Summer of 1915, Op. 24 12. Illuminations, Op. 18~I. Fanfare 13. Illuminations, Op. 18~~II. Towns 14. Illuminations, Op. 18~IIIa. Phrase 15. Illuminations, Op. 18~IIIb. Antique 16. Illuminations, Op. 18~IV. Royalty 17. Illuminations, Op. 18~V. Seascape 18. Illuminations, Op. 18~VI. Interlude 19. Illuminations, Op. 18~VII. Beautiful Being 20. Illuminations, Op. 18~VIII. Parade 21. Illuminations, Op. 18~IX. Departing