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Britten: Peter Grimes
 
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Britten: Peter Grimes [Box set]

~ B. Britten
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Track Listings

Disc: 1
1. "Peter Grimes!" - Richard van Allan, Forbes Robinson, Jon Vickers, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
2. "You sailed your boat" - Forbes Robinson, Jon Vickers, Patricia Payne, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
3. "Peter Grimes, I here advise you!" - Forbes Robinson, Richard van Allan, Jon Vickers, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
4. "The truth...the pity..." - Heather Harper, Jon Vickers, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
5. Interlude I: On the beach - Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
6. "Oh, hang at open doors" - Elizabeth Bainbridge, John Dobson, Jonathan Summers, John Lanigan, Teresa Cahill, Anne Pashley, Patricia Payne, Thomas Allen, Forbes Robinson, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
7. "Hi! give us a hand" - Jon Vickers, John Dobson, Jonathan Summers, Thomas Allen, Elizabeth Bainbridge, Richard van Allan, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
8. "I have to go from pub to pub" - Richard van Allan, Heather Harper, Thomas Allen, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
9. "Let her among you" - Heather Harper, Richard van Allan, Patricia Payne, Thomas Allen, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
10. "Look, the storm cone!" - Jonathan Summers, Thomas Allen, John Dobson, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
See all 22 tracks on this disc
Disc: 2
1. "Fool to let it come to this!" - Elizabeth Bainbridge, Thomas Allen, John Dobson, Patricia Payne, Jonathan Summers, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
2. "What is it?" - Forbes Robinson, Teresa Cahill, Anne Pashley, John Lanigan, Patricia Payne, Jonathan Summers, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
3. "People!...No! I will speak!" - John Dobson, Jonathan Summers, John Lanigan, Elizabeth Bainbridge, Heather Harper, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
4. "We planned that their lives" - Heather Harper, John Lanigan, Patricia Payne, John Dobson, Thomas Allen, Forbes Robinson, Teresa Cahill, Anne Pashley, Elizabeth Bainbridge, Jonathan Summers, Richard van Allan, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
5. "Swallow! Shall we go" - John Lanigan, Forbes Robinson, Jonathan Summers, Patricia Payne, Teresa Cahill, Thomas Allen, Richard van Allan, John Dobson, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
6. "Now is gossip put on trial" - Patricia Payne, John Dobson, John Lanigan, Thomas Allen, Forbes Robinson, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
7. "From the gutter" - Teresa Cahill, Elizabeth Bainbridge, Heather Harper, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
8. Interlude IV: Passacaglia - Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
9. "Go there!" - Jon Vickers, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
10. "Now!...Now!" - John Dobson, John Lanigan, Forbes Robinson, Thomas Allen, Jon Vickers, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis
See all 22 tracks on this disc
On this CD:
  1. Peter Grimes
    Composed by Benjamin Britten
    Performed by Covent Garden Royal Opera House Chorus
    with Jon Vickers, Heather Harper, Jonathan Summers, Elizabeth Bainbridge, John Dobson, Forbes Robinson, Patricia Payne, Thomas Allen, John Lanigan, Richard Van Allan, Teresa Cahill, Anne Pashley
    Conducted by Colin Davis

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Room for very different performances, 2 Jun 2005
By Klingsor Tristan (Suffolk) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
Britten was said to have hated Jon Vickers' performance as Grimes and one can see why. Nothing (and no tenor since) could be further from Peter Pears, for whom he had written the part. Let's face it, for all his usual beauty of tone and heady high notes, Pears sounds just too urbane, too sophisticated, too intellectual, too smooth for the rough, tough character as written in Crabbe and in the libretto.

Vickers, on the other hand, is a huge brute of a man (aurally even more than physically). We are left in no doubt that his treatment of apprentices can be rough and bullying, easily leading to the 'accidental circumstances' of their deaths. ("To lose one apprentice...etc.") And his descent into madness is truly terrifying. Which is not say that he misses out on the dreamer in Grimes, the side of the character that could be said to be Pears' strength. The scene in the clifftop hut sees Vickers lurch absolutely credibly from anger and violence and frustration to his all too human dreams of a better life with the schoolmistress, Ellen Orford, all within the space of just a few bars.

I grew up with Pears' Grimes and love it to this day. But Vickers' fisherman is a different beast - almost as viscerally exciting on disc as he was in the theatre. And, perhaps a mark of a great opera, the part will sustain both interpretations, whatever the composer thought. I wouldn't part with either.

The rest of the cast are no slouches either. Heather Harper was probably the best of all Ellens and the smaller parts are in the more than capable hands of the likes of Thomas Allen, Richard van Allen and the venerable (as he was by then) and much missed John Lanigan. Colin Davis's conducting is exemplary, perhaps with an ounce more energy and drive than on his more recent LSO performance, but perhaps with a gram less depth as well.

The opera is an unbelievable 60 years old now - about as far from us as Grimes was from late Wagner and Verdi! It deserves to have two classic performances such as this and the composer's own. And any collection deserves to have both on its shelves.

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A robust and idiomatic performance of this key opera, 10 Oct 2006
By Christopher J. Sharpe "Chris Sharpe" (Caracas, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This was the first opera recording I ever listened to and it got me hooked. I've since acquired the Pears / Britten interpretation on Decca, but (so far) have been unable to relinquish my loyalty to this Philips set. The two major pillars here are Jon Vickers as Peter Grimes and Colin Davis overseeing the whole work. Vickers makes Grimes much more powerful, agressive, threatening and tortured than Pears. Right from the first bars - in the court room scene - it's clear that Vickers is going to put his heart and soul into this role. Indeed, such is the depth of his portrayal that one cannot help a degree of sympathy for the "sadistic fisherman". In fact, it is Vickers' ability to generate a complex mix of feelings in the listener that gives Grimes a real human dimension. I confess to a personal feeling that Vicker's is the better of the two interpretations. His singing in key scenes such as "The truth... the pity..." and, particularly, "Now the Great Bear and Pleiades" simply makes more of the score than does Pears. Clearly, to judge by the Decca recording by the composer, Britten did not intend this though.

Heather Harper should also be mentioned as a beautiful, compassionate and thoroughly believable Ellen Orford. Her "Let her among you" and "Glitter of waves" are wonderful. The Chorus is superb too. And finally, the orchestra plays immaculately to provide stalwart backing to the singers as well as offering up excellent Sea Interludes.

The sound here is superb. There are one or two noticeable edits, but nothing too serious. This version comes without a libretto, but that's easy enough to find electronically. So, if you're after a Peter Grimes, then it's down to Britten or Davis and you can't go far wrong with either. Those who love the opera will want both since the interpretations are so different.
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11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Quite simply the best!!!, 23 Nov 1999
By brixtonite "brixtonite" (Brixton, London,England) - See all my reviews
This is the best recording I've heard. And it's good value. Jon Vickers was widely agreed to be the best Peter Grimes ever, and the crispness of the sound and the perfect pacing will astound you. Recorded by Colin Davis only 2 years after Britten died, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House have never sounded better. What are you waiting for?! Buy this now!!
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