Donald Mitchell (1) (1925–2017)

If a picture paints a thousand words, then I have just read the longest book of my life! A flippant remark, but one tinged with a serious aspect. A biography can tell one about the achievements of a person: it also tells one whether the writer liked, or disliked, the subject: it is much less effective than a single photograph for informing us as to the person's character.

A book, such as this, containing in excess of a thousand images, shows us Britten's world, it shows us the people with whom he interacted but, more importantly, in several hundred pictures of the man himself, it would not be possible for the character of the man not to slip out. This work is a selection of photographs, from the family home, parents, siblings and the young Britten, to the man's funeral. The authors are quick to point out that they have chosen the photographs with the desire to give the feel of the man, rather than, necessarily, including every event in Britten's life. In my view, they succeed: I feel almost as if Britten were someone that I had met after reading this book. It is an excellent peg upon which to hang the information contained in the more word based biographies of Britten, which I shall be tackling soon. Anyone interested in the story of Benjamin Britten NEEDS to own this book.… (meer)