Proper Great Films About Great English Composers Vol 2: Britten & Handel (2DVD) DVD Classic Tony Palmer

This specially-priced 2 DVD package contains two classic films by the acclaimed film director Tony Palmer - 'Benjamin Britten - A Time There Was' and 'Handel - God Rot Tunbridge Wells.'

Britten - A Time There Was: This film - thought to be the definitive portrait of the great composer - tells of one of the most profound love affairs of the 20th Century, between Britten and his life-long companion and inspiration, Peter Pears. At a time when it was illegal to be openly homosexual, Britten and Pears faced up to a hostile world with unflinching dignity, producing a string of masterpieces that helped to establish English music as internationally pre-eminent in the mid-twentieth century.

Handel - God Rot Tunbridge Wells: This film was originally shown in 1985 on British television, (Channel Four) to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Handel's birth. Written by John Osborne, it reveals a composer who had burst upon London like a tornado and not only shaken the smugness of Georgian England to its roots, but laid the foundations of an entirely different tradition of British music-making - bold, brassy and brilliant.