Clifford Curzon was among the finest English pianists of the twentieth century, known for his clear, ego-less performances of the German Classical and Romantic masterpieces. A quiet intellectual who nevertheless possessed a formidable technique, Curzon played everything from Mozart to Liszt with equal authority. His fans often cite this ability to emphasize the personality of each composer, rather than his own, as his most distinctive quality. Curzon recorded for the Decca label for over 30 years, leaving behind a modestly sized, but musically impressive catalog. His recordings of Mozart and Schubert are considered his best.

Curzon achieved success early, with a scholarship to London's Royal Academy of Music in 1919. His impressive student career earned him every prize available to a pianist at the Academy, and he made his professional debut in 1923 -- playing Bach's Triple Concerto with conductor Henry Wood at a Promenade Concert in Queen's Hall. In 1926, when still just 19 years old, he was invited to join the RAM faculty; he remained on the faculty there until 1932, when he became a full-time performing pianist. During his time teaching at the RAM, Curzon spent several extended periods abroad studying with great pianists: first with Artur Schnabel in Berlin, and then with Wanda Landowska and Nadia Boulanger in Paris. In 1936, Curzon made a recital tour of Europe with violist Lionel Tertis, and in 1939, he made his U.S. debut at New York's Town Hall. By 1941, he was making records for Decca, beginning a relationship that would last almost to the end of his life.

Curzon was an exacting perfectionist, often refusing to allow the release of recordings he felt were imperfect. This included recordings of Mozart concertos with the likes of George Szell, István Kertész, and Benjamin Britten conducting. For this and other reasons, he earned a reputation for being difficult, and at times highly temperamental -- an irony, considering his generally retiring nature, and the restrained elegance of his playing. Curzon was knighted in 1977.

Tremendously versatile and musically polished, the English Chamber Orchestra is considered one of the most distinguished chamber orchestras in the world. Similar in musical philosophy and organization to the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the ensemble is financially self-supporting and has no permanent home venue. The orchestra presents an annual concert series in London and also tours internationally. Over its history, the ensemble has expanded its repertoire to include a wide range of chamber music from various musical periods and is flexible in size, ranging from 24 to 38 musicians. The English Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of Neil Thomson, issued the recording Serenata: Brazilian Music for Chamber Orchestra in 2022.

The English Chamber Orchestra was formed in 1948 by Arnold Goldsborough to perform Baroque music. Originally named the Goldsborough Orchestra, the ensemble changed its name to the English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) in 1960 in accordance with the needs of the group's growing reputation. At the same time, the "English Chamber Orchestra and Music Society" charity was formed as the promotion arm of the organization. Like many other chamber orchestras, the ECO employs no full-time musicians but hires its players on a contract basis. This allows the orchestra to be flexible in size and structure according to the needs of its repertoire and concert venues and also gives the musicians the opportunity to work in a variety of other situations. The freedom this provides is key to the fresh approach this orchestra takes in its performances through its use of a system of co-principal groupings of players. Under this system, two principal players share each chair and are contracted to play a set number of performances in a given season.

The ECO has performed for numerous important occasions, including a command performance before Queen Elizabeth II at the Queen Elizabeth Hall inaugural concert in 1967. Other performances of note are the first color television recording of music for the BBC and the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana of Wales in 1981. The ensemble has been associated with the music of Benjamin Britten since it became the resident orchestra at the 1961 Aldeburgh Festival. The ECO has toured extensively, including tours throughout Europe, the U.S., and China.

Until 1985, the orchestra chose to work without a principal conductor, instead inviting a series of talented guest artists to lead the ensemble. The ECO has a reputation for giving young conductors important opportunities. Among those who have benefited from this policy are Sir Colin Davis, Daniel Barenboim, and Pinchas Zukerman. During the orchestra's Silver Anniversary celebration in 1985, it was announced that Jeffrey Tate had been chosen to fill the newly created position of principal conductor, and in 2000, he was succeeded by Ralf Gothóni. Paul Watkins has also served as music director, and Roy Goodman has served as the orchestra's principal guest conductor. Stephanie Gonley has been the orchestra's leader since 1997 and has also directed the orchestra from her violin.

The ECO can be heard on hundreds of recordings on all of the major labels, including a significant number on EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, and Sony, among others. The highlights for the ECO include three complete Mozart piano concerto cycles featuring Daniel Barenboim on EMI Classics, Mitsuko Uchida on Philips, and Murray Perahia on Sony Classical. In 2019, the ECO was led from the keyboard by Benjamin Hochman in a recording of Mozart's Piano Concertos Nos. 17 & 24, on Avie. More Mozart recordings followed in the early 2020s, and in 2022, conductor Neil Thomson led the ECO on the release Serenata: Brazilian Music for Chamber Orchestra. ~ Corie Stanton Root & Keith Finke

With the arrival of Benjamin Britten on the international music scene, many felt that English music gained its greatest genius since Purcell. A composer of wide-ranging talents, Britten found in the human voice an especial source of inspiration, an affinity that resulted in a remarkable body of work, ranging from operas like Peter Grimes (1944-1945) and Death in Venice (1973) to song cycles like the Serenade for tenor, horn, and strings (1943) to the massive choral work War Requiem (1961). He also produced much music for orchestra and chamber ensembles, including symphonies, concerti, and chamber and solo works.

Britten's father was a prosperous oral surgeon in the town of Lowestoft, Suffolk; his mother was a leader in the local choral society. When Benjamin's musical aptitude became evident, the family engaged composer Frank Bridge to supervise his musical education. Bridge's tutelage was one of the formative and lasting influences on Britten's compositional development; he eventually paid tribute to his teacher in his Op. 10, the Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge (1937). Britten's formal training also included studies at the Royal College of Music (1930-1933).

Upon graduation from the RCM, Britten obtained a position scoring documentaries (on prosaic themes like "Sorting Office") for the Royal Post Office film unit. Working on a tight budget, he learned how to extract the maximum variety of color and musical effectiveness from the smallest combinations of instruments, producing dozens of such scores from 1935 to 1938. He rapidly emerged as the most promising British composer of his generation and entered into collaborative relationships that exerted a profound influence upon his creative life. Among the most important of his professional associates were literary figures like W.H. Auden, and later, E.M. Forster. None, however, played as central a role in Britten's life as the tenor Peter Pears, who was Britten's closest intimate, both personally and professionally, from the late '30s to the composer's death. Pears' voice inspired a number of Britten's vocal cycles and opera roles, and the two often joined forces in song recitals and, from 1948, in the organization and administration of the Aldeburgh Festival.

A steadfast pacifist, Britten left England in 1939 as war loomed over Europe. He spent four years in the United States and Canada, his compositional pace barely slackening, as evidenced by the production of works like the Sinfonia da Requiem (1940), the song cycle Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (1940), and his first effort for the stage, Paul Bunyan (1940-1941). Eventually, the poetry of George Crabbe drew Britten back to England. With a Koussevitzky Commission backing him, the composer wrote the enormously successful opera Peter Grimes (1944-1945), which marked the greatest turning point in his career. His fame secure, Britten over the next several decades wrote a dozen more operas, several of which -- Albert Herring (1947), Billy Budd (1951), The Turn of the Screw (1954), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960), Death in Venice (1973) -- became instant and permanent fixtures of the repertoire. He also continued to produce much vocal, orchestral, and chamber music, including Songs and Proverbs of William Blake (1965), the three Cello Suites (1961-1964) and the Cello Symphony (1963), written for Mstislav Rostropovich, and the Third String Quartet (1975).

Britten suffered a stroke during heart surgery in 1971, which resulted in something of a slowdown in his creative activities. Nonetheless, he continued to compose until his death in 1976, by which time he was recognized as one of the principal musical figures of the 20th century. ~ Michael Rodman