There is no such thing as a single Briton

What does music mean to you in everyday life?
Marijke: ‘Music, and particularly performing it myself – rehearsals, concerts – gives me emotional balance, between work and family and social obligations. Without it, I don't feel complete.’

Jacob: ‘Music is one of the things that make life worth living.’

Had you performed any of Benjamin Britten's work previously, or is this your first introduction to his music?
Marijke: ‘At secondary school I was in the school choir, and later in the Quod Libet chamber choir conducted by the same conductor, Ad de Groot. We sang many choral works by Britten: Five Flower Songs, Hymn to the Virgin, Hymn to St. Cecilia, A Ceremony of Carols. I also often sang the soprano solos there, and if the basses couldn't follow the rhythm very quickly, the sopranos would just join in for a bit. Britten is therefore pretty much ingrained in me from an early age.’

Jacob: ‘I started with a number of folk songs, then – with Marijke – the cycle On this Island and even to exploring the cycle of John Donne sonnets, which of course are actually for tenor, but we liked them so much.’

Why does Benjamin Britten's lied appeal to you as a duo?
Both: ‘We love 20^e-century repertoire. Britten's music is quite accessible, unlike that of his avant-garde contemporaries who wrote in other tonal systems. Often exciting because he uses multiple keys at once, church modes, sharp dissonances that do not resolve, or conversely, bare, open intervals. Rhythmically interesting due to changing and uneven time signatures. Sometimes multitone: you hear multiple keys at once, which can evoke an interesting tension. Furthermore, his music is never more complicated than necessary, and as far as vocal music is concerned, always perfectly in line with the text.’

Jacob: ‘Fish in the Unruffled Lakes for example, is not so straightforward to learn because of the bitonality. The extra key then has to be notating with a great many accidentals. But Britten’s music has such a strong logic that you hear immediately when you play a wrong note. A musical universe where I like to be.’

Marijke: ‘English poetry has the edge, as I studied English. And because I used to sing a lot of British music, I find the rhythmic challenges and surprising intervals quite familiar to learn.".
I also notice that if you have ever studied and performed something by Britten, and you pick it up again years later, you master it very quickly again. It is then as if you are meeting an old acquaintance whom you are glad to see again.’

How does singing or playing music by Benjamin Britten differ from singing or playing music by other composers?
‘There is not one Briton: the Cabaret Songs asking for a different approach than Fish in the Unruffled Lakes.’

What is harder: singing or playing the right notes, or conveying the right emotion?
Marijke: ‘Conveying the emotion is what I find the hardest; you think you’re putting your all into it, but at a masterclass they often ask for more.’

Why do you think Benjamin Britten's music still appeals to people today?
Marijke: ‘If you look only at Britten’s vocal music, I don't think you can separate it from the poems he uses. That poetry is still relevant today and the music connects seamlessly with the imagery: the sparkling of the water and the smooth movements of a “fish in the unruffled lakes” or a “swan”; the joy of the “voluntary love” that the poet has experienced… Or take the Embroidery Ariafrom Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes. The vocal line is the movement of needle and thread through the embroidery, ingenious!’

If someone is not yet familiar with Benjamin Britten, why should he or she come and listen to this open stage?
Marijke: ‘There is bound to be a very diverse programme, allowing you to get acquainted with many lied works by Britten in a short space of time. And perhaps that will give you the courage to start singing and playing this repertoire yourself. Because it's wonderful - and also very inspiring - to see and hear others, but singing and playing yourself is still the best musical experience.’

If you could receive just one instruction from Benjamin Britten himself during a rehearsal, what would you hope he gave you?
Jacob: ‘It is not clear how you in Funeral Blues the chords in the middle hand – yes, there is music for three hands – to ring on, while with the left hand you have to produce a measured drum roll. There is also a pedal marking somewhere, but it is unclear for how long that applies. How did Britten do it himself?’

Marijke: ‘And while we're on the subject of Funeral Blues have: it is in the Cabaret Songs, but the text is not exactly cabaret-style. As far as we are concerned, you take the text dead seriously, even if it is perhaps a bit melodramatic, such as “pour away the ocean, and sweep up the woods”… But did Auden or Britten see it rather as ironic?’

Imagine that Benjamin Britten himself were sitting in the auditorium on the 18th of October. What would the two of you like to tell him about your performance afterwards??
‘We would tell him that we had a lot of fun studying and rehearsing and that we really love his liedings. We would certainly ask him to make time to compose another cycle for soprano and piano, because we look with envy at the beautiful cycles for tenor and piano.’