Night Mail performance and screening at 2007 BBC Proms
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The BBC Proms continues its Britten and Auden celebration with a screening and performance of the the famous film documentary Night Mail. Night Mail is the most well known of all GPO documentaries and the one which was probably most responsible for putting the British documentary on the map.
A must for all train enthusiasts it tells the story of the overnight postal express from Euston to Glasgow. It shows the train through the eyes of the signalmen and station masters, as well as the men who deal with the mail en route. Night Mail features verse written by W. H. Auden - verse which, with Benjamin Britten's music, gives the film one of its distinctive qualities.
Benjamin Britten's music for Night Mail will be performed against the backdrop of the film at Cadogan Hall, London, on 1 September 2007. This concert is a Proms Saturday Matinee concert and will run from 3:00pm - 4:45pm. Music from the less well-known film The Way To The Sea will also be performed. Andrew Kennedy will sing On This Island, Britten's first song-cycle, to Auden Texts, as well as the later Serenade, which includes a setting of William Blake.