Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting display at the National Portrait Gallery of photographs of Benjamin Britten and his circle to mark his centenary. I loved the pictures of him as a child particularly one of him aged 6 with his mother in a production of The Water Babies. You can’t help but compare it with the later one of him with the children in his opera’s such as a lovely rehearsal picture of Noyes Fludde including a child with a squirrel on its head! A lot of the pictures were of people he worked with and made up a wonderful study of the musical and artistic world in post war Britain. I loved the photo of Tippet by Bill Brandt with his set off centre against an abstract looking background. Also the informality of a snap of Britten, Peter Pears and John and Myfanwy Piper in Venice. I must admit to a certain delight at spotting John Shirley Quirk on one picture as he was at university with my parents!

Nice display at the British Library marking the Benjamin Britten centenary year looking at his poetic and literary influences. It was lovely to see scores in Britten’s own hand next to the poems which inspired it. There was also a nice section on his work with Auden and displays on specific operas. I got quite nostalgic at the section on the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. I was also interested to find out the Britten and Menuhin played two concerts at Belsen shortly after its liberation.