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BRITTEN: Les Illuminations – en français and in English • BARBER: Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Julia Kogan, soprano
Britten Sinfonia
Steven Lloyd-Gonzalez, conductor
Featuring the first recording of BRITTEN’s ‘Les Illuminations, Op. 18’ sung in English, from a brand new translation by Timothy Adès! Also includes the original French version. Coupled with Samuel BARBER’s dramatic masterpiece ‘Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24’, written just a few years after ‘Les Illuminations’.
UK Release: 14 November 2025
International Release: March 2026
‘mélodies • songs’ NAMED BEST OF 2019
The landmark recording features the work of France’s greatest living art song composer, Isabelle Aboulker, as she turns 80. Though a legend in France, the language barrier has largely kept her from the Anglophone world, until now – new English translations by Timothy Adès have been recorded by Julia Kogan with the composer at the piano, alongside the original French versions. The resulting double CD was released on First Hand Records in early 2019.
The Arts Desk named the CD as their best of 2019, with reviewer Graham Rickson saying: “Aboulker’s elegant settings of fables and etiquette tips are compelling. Plus, we get each song twice, the witty English versions courtesy of master translator Timothy Adès. It’s really, really enjoyable. Help make it a best-seller, and buy your copy today.” Read the full review here.
IN OTHER NEWS – WE WON, AGAIN!
The “Florence Foster Jenkins” screenplay court case was heard by the UK’s Court of Appeal in May, 2019 in a live-streamed trial. The court handed down their ruling in late 2019. Julia’s third and final Intellectual Property Court ruling came down on 11 January, 2021. After a nearly six-year battle, she has finally been credited as the co-writer of the film.
