Britten - Billy Budd / Keenlyside ? Langridge ? John Tomlinson ? LSO ? Hickox
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CD Details
Edition: Music CDFormat: Box set
CD Release Date: 2000-06-27
Music Label: Chandos
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Billy Budd: Prologue: I Am An Old Man... (Vere)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 1: Pull, Me Bantams!
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 1: Boat Ahoy!
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 1: First Man Forward! (Claggart)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 1: Your Name? (Claggart, Billy)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 1: Billy Budd, Kind Of The Birds! (Billy)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 1: I Heard, Your Honour! (Claggart)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 1: Come Along, Kid!
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 1: Christ! The Poor Chap... (Billy)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 1: What's That? What's Those Whistles? (Billy, Claggart)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 1: Starry Vere We Call Him (Billy)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 2: Boy! (Vere)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 2: Gentlemen, The King! (Vere)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 2: Ay, At Spithead... (Vere)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 2: We Are, Sir. Claggart Is An Able One (Vere)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 3: Blow Her Away (Billy)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 3: We're Off To Samoa... (Billy)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 3: Hi! You... A... A...! (Billy)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 3: Over The Water... (Claggart)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 3: Come Here (Claggart)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 3: Billy!... Hist! Billy Budd! (Billy)
- Billy Budd: Act I - Scene 3: Dansker, Old Friend... (Billy)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 1: I Don't Like The Look Of The Mist... (Vere)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 1: With Great Regret I Must Disturb Your Honour (Claggart, Vere)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 1: Deck Ahoy!
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 1: Volunteers! Call For Boarding Volunteers! (Vere)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 1: There You Go Again, Master-At Arms (Vere, Claggart)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 1: Oh, This Cursed Mist! (Vere)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 2: Claggart, John Claggart, Beware! (Vere, Billy)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 2: Master-At-Arms And Fortopman... (Vere, Claggart, Billy)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 2: God O' Mercy (Vere)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 2: Gentlemen, William Budd Here... (Vere)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 2: William Budd, You Are Accused... (Vere, Billy)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 2: Poor Fellow, Who Could Save Him?
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 2: I Accept Their Verdict (Vere)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 3: Look! (Billy)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 3: Here! Baby! (Billy)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 3: And Farewell To Ye... (Billy)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 4: (Interlude)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 4: 'According To The Articles Of War...' (Billy, Claggart)
- Billy Budd: Act II - Scene 4: Down All Hands!
- Billy Budd: Act II - Epilogue: We Committed His Body To The Deep (Vere)
Music reviews of Britten - Billy Budd / Keenlyside ? Langridge ? John Tomlinson ? LSO ? Hickox
Music Review: This Budd's not for me
Rating: 2 Stars
Yes, yes I know, Britten's Budd is a "great opera," and Britten a "great" opera composer, everyone seems to agree on that. But me. Sorry, but I have serious reservations about this opera. And also the approach to opera generally that it represents, an approach that in my opinion has had a truly doleful influence on so many other gifted composers, especially Brits and Americans, with the result that 20th century opera in English is STILL in such a dreadful fix, even when carried over into the 21st century. The problem has something to do, I think, with a dogma that began, perhaps, with Pelleas, though Debussy may have picked it up from Mussorgsky, who, in his "Wedding," tried to prove something about the "natural" inflections of the speaking voice. The Wedding was a noble failure. Pelleas, is, of course, Pelleas, a masterpiece that overcame the limitations of its premise through the sheer inventiveness -- and sensitivity -- of its creator. Sadly, Britten is neither inventive nor subtle in HIS attempt to "do justice" to the "natural" flow of speech. Or maybe it was simply laziness. Whatever. The vocal lines of Billy Budd are consistently vacuous and boring, more recitative than melody, more intonation than recitative. In far too many cases what we hear musically is a string of repeated notes, barely inflected. Does this make for better, more "realistic" drama? Perhaps, in the hands of great actors, it might. But opera, is after all, about singing -- and singers.
When Britten loosens up a bit to give us a "rousing" sea chantey, the effect, for me, is stilted, overblown, artificial, embarrassing. I wonder whether he actually ever heard real sailors singing real chanteys? It sounds to me as though this bit must have been written soley because his producer or director was begging him to put SOME sort of melody into the thing, for crying out loud, PLEASE.
The most disastrous aspect of the opera actually has more to do with the dramatization than anything else -- because Britten and his collaborators have totally undercut the whole point of Melville's tale. What primarily characterizes Billy is not only his goodness and innocence, but his touching and fatally incurable inarticulateness. He can barely form a sentence. So, when Britten FINALLY opens up to provide us with some sort of extended vocal melody, in Billy's monologue, he is, at the same time, undercutting the fundamental premise of the story he's telling. And making nonsense of Melville's superb characterization.
The one redeeming aspect of this work, for me, is the orchestra, which is, from the beginning to the end, a marvel of invention, not to mention technical mastery. It is here that the true drama of Billy Budd unfolds, and brilliantly. There is no question that Britten was a truly great composer. His orchestral writing in this opera, as in so many other works, clearly demonstrates that. But a great OPERA composer? I don't think so.
Description of Britten - Billy Budd / Keenlyside ? Langridge ? John Tomlinson ? LSO ? Hickox
Herman Melville's complex tale of innocence and "moral obliquity" struck a resonant chord with Benjamin Britten, who was inspired to produce one of his finest stage works in Billy Budd (with a libretto by novelist E.M. Forster). This is the first recording of the revised, two-act version of the opera since Britten's own--and it's also one of the best accounts ever, hands down. --Thomas MayRichard Hickox leads this first recording of the revised, two-act version of this opera since Britten's own wonderful performance in 1967 (the Kent Nagano-led set on Erato with Thomas Hampson is of Britten's first, four-act edition). Hickox's tempi are a bit slower throughout than Britten's. This fact, along with his cast's superb diction, means that almost every word is discernible. He manages to bring out each character's musical profile and keep the drama tight at the same time. His singers are first-rate. Simon Keenlyside now becomes the Billy for the ages. The voice is beautiful, his involvement complete, his outpourings of love and desperation sincere. Philip Langridge's Vere is in a class with Peter Pears, but his voice is richer and more easily produced. In John Tomlinson's portrayal of Claggart, there is more than just villainy; the sadism and unctuousness that are sometimes missed are apparent--and terrifying. Alan Opie and Matthew Best are stalwart and clear-headed as Redburn and Flint, respectively, and the remainder of the cast--children's and adults' choruses included--is superlative. As usual, the LSO play brilliantly. This Billy Budd is the desert-island pick, whether in the two-act or four-act version. --Robert Levine
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