This masterly work was written for the combined musical talents of Peter Pears and Dennis Brain. Framed by a horn solo played on natural harmonics to evoke an atmosphere of far-off, primeval innocence, the Serenade is anextraordinary example of Britten's ability to set an anthology of texts bound together by a similar theme, in this case, the world of night, sleep and dreams. The twilight atmosphere that characterizes this beautiful and evocativework is offset by the two settings that form it...