Britten: Billy Budd

Britten: Billy Budd

Britten: Billy Budd
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Composer: Benjamin Britten
Conductor: Daniel Harding
Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Adam Green
Performer: Alasdair Elliott
Performer: Andrew Kennedy
Performer: Andrew Staples
Performer: Andrew Tortise
Performer: Daniel Teadt
Performer: Darren Jeffrey
Performer: Gidon Saks
Performer: Hugo Shepherd
Performer: Ian Bostridge
Performer: Jonathan Lemalu
Performer: Kyle Kean
Performer: Laurie Benson
Performer: Mark Stone
Performer: Matthew Best
Performer: Matthew Rose
Performer: Nathan Gunn
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2008-10-14
Music Label: Virgin Classics
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Prologue 'I am an old man' (Vere):- Billy Budd
  2. Pull, my bantams! Pull, my sparrow-legs!...Who did that? (First Mate et al):- Billy Budd
  3. Guard boat! Indomitable! (Maintop et al):- Billy Budd
  4. First man forward! (Claggart et al):- Billy Budd
  5. Your name? - Billy Budd, sir (Claggart/Billy/First Lieutenant/Sailing Master):- Billy Budd
  6. Billy Budd, king of the birds (Billy/Sailing Master/First Lieutenant/Ratcliffe):- Billy Budd
Music CD 2
  1. I heard your honour! (Claggart/Squeak/Novice's Friend):- Billy Budd
  2. Come along kid! Come along! (Novice's Friend/Novice/Chorus):- Billy Budd
  3. Christ! The poor chap, the poor little runt! (Billy/Dansker/Red Whiskers/Donald):- Billy Budd
  4. What's that? What's those whistles? (Billy/Donald/Claggart/First Mate/Second Mate/Bosun):- Billy Budd
  5. Starry Vere we call him (Donald/Billy/Chorus/Red Whiskers/Dansker/Bosun):- Billy Budd
  6. Boy! - Yes sir! (Vere/Boy):- Billy Budd
  7. Gentlemen, the King! (Vere/First Lieutenant/Sailing Master):- Billy Budd
  8. Ay, at Spithead the men may have had their grievances (Vere/Sailing Master/First Lieutenant):- Billy Budd
  9. We are, sir. Claggart is an able one...Land on the port bow, sir (First Lieutenant/Vere/Sailing Master/Ratcliffe):- Billy Budd
  10. Blow her away, Blow her to Hilo (Red Whiskers/Chorus/Billy/Donald/Dansker):- Billy Budd
  11. We're off to Samoa (Donald/Chorus/Red Whiskers/Billy/Donald/Dansker):- Billy Budd
  12. Hi! You...a...a... (Billy et al):- Billy Budd
  13. Over the water, over the ocean (Chorus/Claggart):- Billy Budd
  14. Come here, Remember your promise (Claggart/Novice):- Billy Budd
  15. Billy!...Hist! Billy Budd! (Novice/Billy):- Billy Budd
  16. Dansker, old friend, glad to see you! (Billy/Dansker):- Billy Budd
Music CD 3
  1. I don't like the look of the mist (Vere/First Lieutenant):- Billy Budd
  2. With great regret I must disturb your honour (Claggart/Vere):- Billy Budd
  3. Deck ahoy! Enemy sail on starboard bow! (Maintop et al):- Billy Budd
  4. Who'll volunteer to beard 'em in the smoke? (Vere et al.):- Billy Budd
  5. There you are again, Master-at-arms (Vere/Claggart/Boy):- Billy Budd
  6. O this cursed mist (Vere/First Lieutenant/Sailing Master/Ratcliffe):- Billy Budd
  7. Claggart, John Claggart, beware! I'm not so easily deceived (Vere/Billy):- Billy Budd
  8. Master-at-arms and foretopman, I speak to you both (Vere/Claggart/Billy):- Billy Budd
  9. God o' mercy! (Vere/Boy):- Billy Budd 10:Gentlemen, William Budd here has killed the Master-at-arms (Vere/First Lieutenant/Sailing Master/Ratcliffe):- Billy Budd
  10. William Budd, you are accused... (First Lieutenant/Vere/Billy):- Billy Budd
  11. Poor fellow, who could save him? (First Lieutenant/Sailing Master/Ratcliffe):- Billy Budd
  12. I accept their verdict (Vere):- Billy Budd
  13. Look! Through the port comes the moon-shine astray! (Billy):- Billy Budd
  14. Here! Baby! (Dansker/Billy):- Billy Budd
  15. And farewell to ye, old Rights o' Man! (Billy):- Billy Budd
  16. Interlude:- Billy Budd
  17. "According to the Articles of War..." (All except Vere):- Billy Budd
  18. Down all hands! And see that they go! (First Lieutenant et al):- Billy Budd
  19. We committed his body to the deep (Vere):- Billy Budd

Music reviews of Britten: Billy Budd

Music Review: A excellent 'Billy Budd' if you can get past a seriously miscast Bostridge
Rating: 4 Stars

I doubt that even the beloved Britten himself could have prompted EMI to front money for a new studio recording of his masterpiece, 'Billy Budd,' but recording a concert performance from London's Barbican Hall last December has paid off artistically. Daniel Harding's leadership of the London Sym. is electrifying, and the whole cast seems inspired by the occasion (even more so than on Kent Nagano's exceptionally fine version on Erato, also done in concert, with the Halle Orch.). I have never heard the score played better, and any lover of this opera can feel confident that wonderful things happen on the podium -- a five-star account on that score.

Also satisfying is Billy Budd himself as sung by Nathan Gunn. The role of the 'handsome sailor' is ambiguously positioned between beauty as a spiritual quality (Billy as Christ-like) and a sexual one (Billy as Eros). Gunn is one of the new breed of physically compelling singers who fit the erotic aspect, and he also has a light, flexible voice that sounds more youthful and innocent than either Peter Glossop, who sings the role under Britten's baton (Decca) or Thomas Hampson (for Nagano). Critics may find that Gunn's voice lacks 'face,' and for sheer volume and beauty of tone he can't match Hampson; even so, he is musical and touching.

His tormentor and anguished secret admirer, Claggart, is turned into a snarling, barrel-voiced sadist by Gidon Saks, a power-house basso profundo. As much as I'd prefer to hear a more shaded characterization, Saks creates a powerful melodramatic effect. Which brings us to the third leg of the tripod, Captain Vere, who sees Billy in spiritual terms but feels compelled to sentence him to death. The singer for whom the part was written, Peter Pears, could encompass many shades of psychological tension, and in his way so could Pears's latter-day replacement, Ian Bostridge, under the right conditions. Unfortunately, good as he was as Quint in Harding's great 'Turn of the Screw,' Bostridge is seriously miscast here.

The voice is perpetually juvenile, and that doesn't work for either side of Vere: the commanding figure who inspires his men in battle or the aged Vere recalling the tale in a state of tortued guilt. Bostridge sounds like the cabin boy dressed up in an officer's uniform. The poignancy and force of Vere's apotheosis in the final minutes of the opera just don't come across. If you can get past this problem, as I couldn't, he has much to offer. All the minor roles are taken by exemplary English stalwarts, and the chorus is exceptionally fine, the best on any rendition.

Virgin/EMI's sound is close-up and very clear, allowing us to hear E.M. Forster's literate -- and literary -- libretto. For 'Billy Budd' aficionados, this is the revised two-act version rather than the original four-act one, which was too bellicose for the pacifist Pears. Frankly, I think the aciton needs the omitted patriotic displays, so I prize the Nagano set, which reverts back to the original score, before Pears convinced Britten to revise it.

There hasn't been a bad 'Billy Budd' since the premiere in 1951 (you can hear an air-check on VAI), so this new one joins a golden tradition. For me, it earns its place on the shelf largely due to Harding's inspired conducting, and the cast admirably carries out his intentions. If only EMI hadn't spread the opera out over three discs.
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