Books and articles
The Cominge of the Fludde: a Festival Exhibition (Aldeburgh: The Britten–Pears Library, June 2008) [catalogue]
Tracing the threads: perspectives on ‘The Turn of the Screw’ Pre-performance talk for Oxford Opera Company, Hertford College, Oxford, 20 February 2008
The Turn of the Screw: visual responses to Britten’s opera (London: Sounding Art Press, June 2007 [essay and commentaries]
Collaboration with Jane Mackay. See the Sounding Art Press page.
Serenissima: a Festival Exhibition (Aldeburgh: The Britten–Pears Library, June 2007) [catalogue]
Wild Echoes: a Festival Exhibition (Aldeburgh: The Britten–Pears Library, June 2006) [catalogue]
Earth and air and watercolour: art, music and synaesthesia Pre-performance talk for the Tewkesbury Festival, 27 May 2006
The Grey Disturbance: a Festival Exhibition (Aldeburgh: The Britten–Pears Library, June 2005) [catalogue]
Rumours and Visions: a Festival Exhibition (Aldeburgh: The Britten–Pears Library, June 2004) [catalogue]
The Life and Music of Philip Christian Darnton (Ph.D. thesis: The University of Birmingham, 2003)
Fire and Iron: an exhibition for the Britten Festival (Aldeburgh: The Britten–Pears Library, October 2003) [catalogue]
An extended investigation into Britten’s pacifist beliefs and responses to war, with specific reference to his War Requiem. Much of the text has since been revised and expanded for publication in The New Aldeburgh Anthology, 2009.
(Chandos CHAN9825, 2000) [CD booklet notes]World premiere recordings of four works, concluding with the Fantasy-Waltzes, played by Julian Milford pianoAndrew Plant’s exemplary notes… – Piers Burton-Page
Christian Darnton: discovering a contemporary legend Paper for study day, ‘Aspects of the British Musical Renaissance’, Department of Music, The University of Birmingham, 1 March 1997
Contributions to Books
‘Fire and Iron: Britten and Pacifism’, in New Aldeburgh Anthology (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2009)
The successor to the original Aldeburgh Anthology of 1972 includes a number of reprints from the first volume and a new survey of Britten’s pacifism and his responses to war, always a crucial and central theme in his life and output. Among works discussed are the War Requiem, Children’s Crusade and Who are these children?
‘A great and mighty wonder’, in A Christmas Sequence: chosen by Benjamin Britten from the Chester Mystery Cycle. Woodcuts by Angela Lemaire (Llandogo: The Old Stile Press, 2008) [introduction]
Towards the end of his life, Britten began work on what became known informally as ‘the Christmas Noye’s Fludde’, but he was unable to make much progress on it before his death. His unset libretto, here published for the first time, appears as an exceptionally beautiful volume from a distinguished private press.
More information here
‘Peter Pears and the art collection at The Red House’, in Pacifism: omaggio a Britten (Rome: Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Fondazione, October 2005) [exhibition catalogue], published in Italian translation by Paola Pacetti
‘Christian Darnton’, ‘Bernard Stevens’, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: OUP, 2004)
‘Christian Darnton’, in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London: Macmillan, 2001; Stanley Sadie ed.)
‘Christian Darnton’, ‘Patrick Hadley’, ‘Peter Warlock’, in A Dictionary-Catalog of Modern British Composers 1893–1923
A three-volume guide to premieres of works by seminal composers of the twentieth-century British Music Renaissance.
‘Warlock and the accompanist’, in Peter Warlock: a Centenary Celebration
Papers and articles to mark the centenary of one of England’s most intriguing composers.
In progress
The legend of my play : Lucy Boston and the music of Green Knowe
Britten Dreaming : an investigation into the composer’s projected ballet on an Aboriginal theme, with libretto and designs by Sidney Nolan