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3CD Pears/Fischer-Dieskau/Lso/Britten
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
When you look at all the operatic roles that Britten created for his lifelong partner in life and music (something in every opera except Noye), the first thing that becomes clear is how well he understood Peter Pears' voice and musical talents. The vocal lines fit the voice perfectly, utilising all its strengths and usually avoiding its weaknesses. When you look at the characters he asked Pears to play, however, a rather different picture emerges. As a performer, Pears comes across as rather refined, sophisticated, something of an aesthete, a bit of an intellectual. So, while he makes a good fist of Peter Grimes, it is Grimes the dreamer that tends to stay in the memory: the tough, violent, naïve fisherman is more Jon Vickers territory. The innocent Albert Herring, the impetuous Essex and the impassioned Lysander (though Flute was his original part) really don't work very well as characters with Pears. And, while no-one sings the trance-inducing melismas of Quint quite like him, do we really believe he is the incarnation of corrupting evil? The Male Chorus in Lucretia fares better because he is just an observer with little personality of his own. And Pears' roles in the Church Parables are sufficiently distanced by the Brechtian/Noh ritual of the pieces to allow him to view these characters more objectively.
The two parts that work best for Pears are Aschenbach, the composer's final gift to his lover, and Captain Vere in Billy Budd. Certainly Vere is something of an intellectual and an aesthete: he is a reader of Plutarch, a man somewhat out of touch with the rough sentiments of his subordinate officers, prone to using classical references they don't understand. And he is, like Aschenbach, highly susceptible to the Apollonian appeal of Billy's handsomeness, goodness and beauty (Claggart's words). One suspects that, like Aschenbach again, there is also a more Dionysian aspect to this attraction. Certainly the redemption Vere attributes to Billy's death on that clear, blue morning in enemy waters is not quite as clear and blue and cloudless as he would like to imagine.
Captain Vere is one of the most complex of all Britten's characters (at least before Aschenbach). That is, of course, thanks to the subtlety of E.M.Forster's libretto and of Britten's music. But it is also thanks to the force of Pears interpretation. I am inclined to think that this is his best performance in any of the operas on disc. He successfully adumbrates all the different sides of the role - the humanist and the military stickler, the charismatic leader of men and a man torn by internal moral dilemmas and indecisions, an outsider by nature of his rank and his own inclinations who is placed in the closest-knit of male communities. That the part is magnificently sung by Pears goes almost without saying. That he makes the character so fascinating, so complex and so real in the agony of the choices he faces is down to Pears' superlative vocal acting. In this performance it is Vere rather than Billy who is the hero, the focus of the whole opera.
Which is not to take away from what is a great team performance of this important opera. Britten never seemed able to cast Billy from the ranks of the Aldeburgh coterie - Theodor Uppman, the Billy at the premiere, was an American import; Peter Glossop on this recording, a North Country Verdi specialist. He sings the part well enough, is touching in Billy in the Darbies, but can be a little unimaginative. Claggart is in the hands of the underrated and under-recorded Michael Langdon (a great Ochs in his time), as black of voice and soul as any Wagnerian villain. The quarter-deck officers are a fine set of Britten regulars: the lower-decks boast some fine newcomers to those ranks in the likes of Robert Tear and Benjamin Luxon as the Novice and his Friend. The chorus are magnificent, whether in the drudgery of daily chores, the relaxation of shanty-singing or the excitement of battle. Britten, as you would expect, conducts his own music with a naturalness and a perception that allows detail to make its points without ever losing sight of the overall structure (all to do with two fiercely opposed key-centres, set out in the Prologue and only finding their eventual resolution in the Epilogue).
The two fill-ups on Disc 1 add to the value of the set if not seeming strictly relevant to the opera they accompany - the Metamorphoses for Oboe would have done that better. Nevertheless the Donne Sonnets from the end of the War and the Blake Songs and Proverbs from the 60's get definitive performances from Pears and Fischer-Dieskau respectively, both with the composer at the piano.
The two parts that work best for Pears are Aschenbach, the composer's final gift to his lover, and Captain Vere in Billy Budd. Certainly Vere is something of an intellectual and an aesthete: he is a reader of Plutarch, a man somewhat out of touch with the rough sentiments of his subordinate officers, prone to using classical references they don't understand. And he is, like Aschenbach, highly susceptible to the Apollonian appeal of Billy's handsomeness, goodness and beauty (Claggart's words). One suspects that, like Aschenbach again, there is also a more Dionysian aspect to this attraction. Certainly the redemption Vere attributes to Billy's death on that clear, blue morning in enemy waters is not quite as clear and blue and cloudless as he would like to imagine.
Captain Vere is one of the most complex of all Britten's characters (at least before Aschenbach). That is, of course, thanks to the subtlety of E.M.Forster's libretto and of Britten's music. But it is also thanks to the force of Pears interpretation. I am inclined to think that this is his best performance in any of the operas on disc. He successfully adumbrates all the different sides of the role - the humanist and the military stickler, the charismatic leader of men and a man torn by internal moral dilemmas and indecisions, an outsider by nature of his rank and his own inclinations who is placed in the closest-knit of male communities. That the part is magnificently sung by Pears goes almost without saying. That he makes the character so fascinating, so complex and so real in the agony of the choices he faces is down to Pears' superlative vocal acting. In this performance it is Vere rather than Billy who is the hero, the focus of the whole opera.
Which is not to take away from what is a great team performance of this important opera. Britten never seemed able to cast Billy from the ranks of the Aldeburgh coterie - Theodor Uppman, the Billy at the premiere, was an American import; Peter Glossop on this recording, a North Country Verdi specialist. He sings the part well enough, is touching in Billy in the Darbies, but can be a little unimaginative. Claggart is in the hands of the underrated and under-recorded Michael Langdon (a great Ochs in his time), as black of voice and soul as any Wagnerian villain. The quarter-deck officers are a fine set of Britten regulars: the lower-decks boast some fine newcomers to those ranks in the likes of Robert Tear and Benjamin Luxon as the Novice and his Friend. The chorus are magnificent, whether in the drudgery of daily chores, the relaxation of shanty-singing or the excitement of battle. Britten, as you would expect, conducts his own music with a naturalness and a perception that allows detail to make its points without ever losing sight of the overall structure (all to do with two fiercely opposed key-centres, set out in the Prologue and only finding their eventual resolution in the Epilogue).
The two fill-ups on Disc 1 add to the value of the set if not seeming strictly relevant to the opera they accompany - the Metamorphoses for Oboe would have done that better. Nevertheless the Donne Sonnets from the end of the War and the Blake Songs and Proverbs from the 60's get definitive performances from Pears and Fischer-Dieskau respectively, both with the composer at the piano.
By A. Sircom
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
My last review was of the delivery service, rather than the content. It doesn't matter, the star rating is the same. It's a magnificent opera, beautifully performed. Not the cheeriest music imaginable (the subject matter wouldn't work if it were an updated version of Pinafore), but is ultimately uplifting. I normally find Pears odd nasal voice grating, but it seems in keeping here, as he does vocally span Vere's life well.
This one gets overlooked next to Peter Grimes - but ideally both should be owned to really understand 20th Century British music.
This one gets overlooked next to Peter Grimes - but ideally both should be owned to really understand 20th Century British music.
Format:Audio CD
My failure to get to know the story of Billy Budd and to learn Britten's opera of the story until well into middle age are things I regret. I knew of the story because of the opera and recall that we studied it at school when I was 12 but at the time my mind was elsewhere and I did not take in any of the story or the background.
I think it worthwhile just learning the background to the story. It is set in the late 18th century during the Napoleonic wars and concerns the fate of Billy Budd, a sailor pressed into service onto the HMS Indomitable. Unlike other impressed men, he is able bodied and skilled at sailing and appears to love his work. He is beset by two flaws, first, at times of stress he develops a stammer and cannot express himself verbally and second he has an overly trusting good nature. On board ship he incites the jealousy of Claggart, the master at arms, who bullies weaker sailors with threats of flogging and is instrumental in Budd's downfall.
This historical background is fascinating. Budd's previous ship was called The Rights of Man and he sings in praise of this ship on his first day as a sailor, which some of the officers find disturbing. The Rights of Man is the name of a pamphlet by Thomas Paine which sets out the complete illogicality of the concept of monarchy and supports the French Revolution that saw the execution of the French king. For anyone in authority in England, such notions would be very dangerous, especially now that England was at war with France. Furthermore, the ship would have been crewed by people pressed into service, who had not willingly chosen to be sailors at all, facing extremely low pay paid long in arrears, bad food and brutal treatment. The officers on board are very conscious of recent mutinies at Spithead and Nore so will be very concerned about any sailor who may support any of Paine's revolutionary ideas.
So much for the background, what about the opera? I regret that I have taken so long to get to know the opera. I love some of Britten's operas, especially Peter Grimes but I am less keen on some of Britten's more chamber-scale operas, finding them lacking in dramatic thrust. This is very much at the Peter Grimes scale of Verdian passion and scale and I would suggest that it is an even finer work. Like in Peter Grimes, the sea is an ever present character and also there is wonderful use of sea shanty in the musical material.
There are now about three other recordings of the work on CD. This has the attraction of being conducted by the composer with a huge cast of famous British singers. Peter Glossop as Billy Budd is perfect as Billy Budd with a lovely, almost heldentenor timbre. Michael Langdon plays a wonderfully nasty Claggart with a great inky Wagnerian voice. The ship is presided over by Captain Vere, sung by Peter Pears, a beautiful portrayal of a saintly philosopher captain who is extremely conflicted by the decisions he has to make regarding Billy Budd's fate. All the minor parts are brilliantly taken most notably for me, by Robert Tear as the novice and Owen Brannigan as Dansker, who more that any other character understands the terrible tragedy of Billy Budd.
I really enjoyed listening to this opera and would recommend it very highly.
I think it worthwhile just learning the background to the story. It is set in the late 18th century during the Napoleonic wars and concerns the fate of Billy Budd, a sailor pressed into service onto the HMS Indomitable. Unlike other impressed men, he is able bodied and skilled at sailing and appears to love his work. He is beset by two flaws, first, at times of stress he develops a stammer and cannot express himself verbally and second he has an overly trusting good nature. On board ship he incites the jealousy of Claggart, the master at arms, who bullies weaker sailors with threats of flogging and is instrumental in Budd's downfall.
This historical background is fascinating. Budd's previous ship was called The Rights of Man and he sings in praise of this ship on his first day as a sailor, which some of the officers find disturbing. The Rights of Man is the name of a pamphlet by Thomas Paine which sets out the complete illogicality of the concept of monarchy and supports the French Revolution that saw the execution of the French king. For anyone in authority in England, such notions would be very dangerous, especially now that England was at war with France. Furthermore, the ship would have been crewed by people pressed into service, who had not willingly chosen to be sailors at all, facing extremely low pay paid long in arrears, bad food and brutal treatment. The officers on board are very conscious of recent mutinies at Spithead and Nore so will be very concerned about any sailor who may support any of Paine's revolutionary ideas.
So much for the background, what about the opera? I regret that I have taken so long to get to know the opera. I love some of Britten's operas, especially Peter Grimes but I am less keen on some of Britten's more chamber-scale operas, finding them lacking in dramatic thrust. This is very much at the Peter Grimes scale of Verdian passion and scale and I would suggest that it is an even finer work. Like in Peter Grimes, the sea is an ever present character and also there is wonderful use of sea shanty in the musical material.
There are now about three other recordings of the work on CD. This has the attraction of being conducted by the composer with a huge cast of famous British singers. Peter Glossop as Billy Budd is perfect as Billy Budd with a lovely, almost heldentenor timbre. Michael Langdon plays a wonderfully nasty Claggart with a great inky Wagnerian voice. The ship is presided over by Captain Vere, sung by Peter Pears, a beautiful portrayal of a saintly philosopher captain who is extremely conflicted by the decisions he has to make regarding Billy Budd's fate. All the minor parts are brilliantly taken most notably for me, by Robert Tear as the novice and Owen Brannigan as Dansker, who more that any other character understands the terrible tragedy of Billy Budd.
I really enjoyed listening to this opera and would recommend it very highly.
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