I am gobsmacked at the apparent vendetta on Peter Pears, and to a lesser extent, Benjamin Britten: if you don't like it, Sandman, you don't have to listen to it! PP has been dead for 35 years and BB 10 years longer. They used to fill concert halls with people who liked their music! Having been brought up in Suffolk, where they lived, we did get to sing and play some of their music, including taking part in the Aldeburgh Festival: inspiring! To be fair, I didn't like BB's music on first hearing, but it grew on me: it wasn't the easiest to sing.
PP had a very wide repertoire, of which folksong was only a very small part. I hate the term "murdering" songs: he just did them his way: again I say, switch off if you don't like it! I seriously don't think it does any harm at all to the traditional genre or way of singing such songs, which WILL survive as there are plenty of people who prefer their songs sung that way. Some of the best folk songs have been thoroughly messed up by so-called folk singers who chop up the words with funky rhythms: (not talking about Nick Dow here, if he hasn't yet left the thread!)
I have lived in Scotland, the country of my birth, for the last 35 years, and to some extent, we see the same phenomenon around Burns' songs: some people insisting they must be sung in a folkie style - others who sing them operatically. Does anyone know what they actually sounded like when they were first sung in the 18th century? It's before any recordings. Again, horses for courses, it's all valid, and a matter of personal taste which way you prefer them.
And Sandman, if you've already had one TIA, maybe calm down a bit, to avert any chance of another?