Liverpool may be renowned as the birthplace of The Beatles, but it has other claims to fame as well. On today's date in 1946, for example, one of Benjamin Britten's best-known orchestral works received its first concert performance in that British city. "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" was its title, with "Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Henry Purcell" appended as an explanatory subtitle. Britten himself preferred the "Young Person's Guide" as its official title, and regularly complained whenever the BBC tried to "upgrade" to the more scholarly "Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Henry Purcell" when announcing the piece over the radio. Originally conceived as the soundtrack to a British education film on the instruments of the orchestra, Britten's score can be performed with a spoken narration, or, as is more common, as a purely instrumental work. In fact, the 1946 Liverpool concert premiere actually preceded the first showing of the film by a month or so. Henry Purcell is today acknowledged as the greatest British composer of the 17th century, just as Benjamin Britten is now ranked among the greatest of the 20th century. As a spectacular display of orchestral sounds and colors, the "Young Person's Guide" is hard to beat. It's a kind of mini-concerto for orchestra, showcasing each section of the modern symphony and culminating in a grand fugue on the Purcell theme for the whole orchestra.