Benjamin Britten composed his Two Portraits for string orchestra in 1930, at the age of sixteen, during the summer between leaving Gresham's School and beginning his studies at the Royal College of Music. The first portrait, marked Poco presto, depicts his school friend David Layton in music of quick, energetic character, while the second, a Poco lento, is a self-portrait, subtitled with the composer's own initials E.B.B. and featuring a solo viola, the instrument Britten himself played. Britten had planned a third sketch, portraying another schoolfriend, but it was never completed, leaving the two surviving portraits as a striking and self-contained pair. 

Together the two movements run to about fifteen minutes and offer a fascinating glimpse of Britten's precocious gift for characterization and orchestral colour, already displaying the melodic invention and sensitivity to string texture that would define his mature style. The contrast between the brisk, extrovert first portrait and the more inward, expressive second, with its eloquent viola solo set against warm string writing, gives performers real scope for expression while remaining well within reach of accomplished string orchestras. As an early and rarely heard work by one of the twentieth century's greatest composers, this score and set of parts gives an ensemble the chance to bring a genuine discovery to the concert platform.