Britten And Aldeburgh

One of Tony Palmer’s first films. shot at the 1967 Aldeburgh Festival when the Queen opened The Maltings at Snape, has become a classic with brilliant editing making a natural partnership of music and picture and demonstrating how the place of Aldeburgh had such a profound effect on Britten’s music and helped create one of the world’s premier festivals.

Remarkable footage of the composer in action as performer and conductor is still mesmeric, whether he's playing Mozart with Sviatoslav Richter or recording in a rural Suffolk church. Peter Pears sings Schubert, Margaret Price pops up as Titania and guitarist Julian Bream speaks with pride of at last having a Britten piece to perform.

The film showing will be followed by an interview with Tony Palmer on his film-making life by BBC reporter Elly Oldroyd, author of Composers of Barnes.