Britten - Billy Budd / Keenlyside · Langridge · John Tomlinson · LSO · Hickox [Box set]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com's Best of 2000
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 May

Amazon.com
Richard 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... read more

Britten - Billy Budd / Keenlyside · Langridge · John Tomlinson · LSO · Hickox [Box set]

Britten - Billy Budd / Keenlyside · Langridge · John Tomlinson · LSO · Hickox, Music, Benjamin Britten, Richard Hickox, Simon Keenlyside, Philip Langridge, London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Box Sets (Audio Only), British 20th/21st Century Opera, Classical, Classical Music, Opera, Opera / Operetta / Oratorio, Opera/Operetta

Britten - Billy Budd / Keenlyside · Langridge · John Tomlinson · LSO · Hickox
Average customer rating:

This Budd's not for me

A fine recording of Britten's fine opera

Anniversary

Quite good performance -- but still my fourth choice

Powerful Operatic Tale of Good and Evil

Britten - Billy Budd / Keenlyside · Langridge · John Tomlinson · LSO · Hickox
Benjamin Britten , Richard Hickox , Simon Keenlyside , Philip Langridge , and London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Manufacturer: Chandos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Release Date: 2000-06-27

Tracks:

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)

Tracks:

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)

Tracks:

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)

Amazon.com's Best of 2000

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 May

Amazon.com

Richard 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

Customer Reviews:

This Budd's not for me.......2007-05-10

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.

A fine recording of Britten's fine opera.......2007-02-05

This was the first opera by Benjamin Britten that I purchased and I have been in love with his music ever since. The sound is wonderful and the balance between voices and orchestra is spectacular. This singing is absolutely top drawer. Langridge is the closest thing to Peter Pears that our generation has and thank goodness he has an affinity for Britten! His Vere is powerful and sublimely heart-felt. He copes manfully with the strange tessitura and range, bringing great emotion and pathos to the role. John Tomlinson is a smooth-voiced Claggart, more Iago than Mephisto, twisting each phrase and note toward its most vile connotation. His monologue about Billy is simply dripping with hate and jealousy; and--could it be?--attraction toward Billy and hatred of himself for having those urges? A breathtaking reading. Simon Keenlyside is simply the most virile and sensually-voiced Billy on record. He cannot match Hamspson's sweetness and innocence of tone, however Keenlyside's is a Billy we can believe men would follow as a leader and who could kill a man with one punch. His "and farewell to ye" at the end of the opera is less an acceptance of death, but an affirmation of life and his faith in something greater than he; it is one of my most favorite operatic moments. Hickox helms a tight ship and the ensemble singing is haunting and powerfull. Warmly recommeded!

Anniversary .......2006-11-03

Yesterday, November 2, was the fifty-fifth anniversary of Benjamin Britten's completion of Billy Budd, and I have been thinking a lot about the opera lately (partly because I read the Melville original to my family as we were driving places this summer and that led me back to the opera). Of the three performances in stereo (conducted by Hickox, Nagano, and Britten), this is the weakest. With probably the best recorded sound of the three---the spaciousness is superb---it suffers in two main areas: First, the tempos are too slow. This means, not that there is a perfect tempo that can be indicated by a metronome marking, but that in any given performance the tempo must convince one of its "rightness"---see my comments about the Nagano performance below. Pop musicians speak about a "groove," and it applies to classical music too. Particularly unfortunate in this regard is the big set piece that opens act 2 ("This is our moment"), which seems to drag and lose steam somewhere in the middle; it's supposed to represent the frustration of the crew's desire to see action, but the music has therefore never to flag until it is left hanging, unfulfilled, at the moment of maximum excitement.

The other weakness is, I regret to say, the singing, particularly of Philip Langridge. He sounds vocally tired on this recording and I suspect that he gamely agreed for some set of practical reasons (scheduling, expense) to go ahead and do it, despite knowing that he was not in his best voice. I saw him do Vere at the Met, and he was wonderful---and I was even more wowed by his Aaron in Moses und Aron at the City Opera. Simon Keenlyside is a good Billy, but I simply like the others more. John Tomlinson, though, has a suavity of tone that makes him my favorite Claggart.

Vocally, the other two recordings are much preferable. Anthony Rolfe Johnson, the Vere in the Nagano recording, captures some of the spooky vocal quality of Peter Pears in his performance, though it must be said, without the consummate attention to detail. Compare Pears' and Johnson's readings of the last lines of the opera: Pears carries his voice down (portamento) from the last note of "centuries ago" to the first note of "when I, Edward Fairfax Vere, commanded the Indomitable"; Johnson just sings one line, then the next. Thomas Hampson's Billy is also very beautifully sung; he is probably my favorite of the three, but (1) I think it is an almost impossible role to bring off dramatically---though I haven't heard Uppman---and (2) I think the quality of the Vere is more important to the overall impression.

The problem with this recording (the Nagano) is in the tempos, as has been remarked by at least one reviewer. Surprisingly, they are the most in accord with the score---even more so than the composer's performance. In this case, however, everything seems rushed. The only way I can explain it is to say that while the tempos follow the letter of the score, the music doesn't "breathe." I tend to doubt that Nagano's tempos are the result of a desire to get the opera on to two CDs, as another reviewer cynically suggested, but his rendering of the thirty-four chords of the "interview" scene are almost comically fast, though, alas, gorgeously played.

To go off on a tangent, the Nagano recording is the only one of the original four-act version. The main difference is in the big "Starry Vere" scene of act 1, which is much cut back (and in which Vere doesn't actually appear) in the two-act version. This recording does make a case for the four-act version because Billy's last line ("Starry Vere, God bless you!") has a better context with the scene intact. I do have a gripe, however: Britten composed the ending of each act so that the music seems to pick up where it left off in the next---inspired by Berg's Wozzeck (Britten had wanted to study with Berg and once listed him as among his top ten favorite composers). So why didn't the recording company put a decent break between the acts? The link that he composed between acts 3 and 4 seems particularly redundant without some intervening silence.

The Britten performance with Pears is still the best overall, in my opinion, despite some scrappy brass playing and some distortion in the recording. One tiny example perhaps gives a hint of why. Of course, Britten observes his own tempos accurately, but when Vere sings "What have I done?" near the end, Britten lets lose with a whack! on the bass drum---maybe just on the spur of the moment---while the score calls for the drum to be played softly. It's musically absolutely right, and noteworthy as an instance of a composer justifiably disregarding his own marking. A terrific musician first, Britten was not a slave to the score, even his own.

Quite good performance -- but still my fourth choice.......2005-09-24

Billy Budd has inspired more fierce devotoin than any other Britten opera, so I can't disagree with the points made by other reviewers, but I have to say that Billy has been very lucky on records. The 1951 premiere, in listenable mono, is a blazing performance, particularly from the lead, Thomas Uppman, Peter pears as Captain Vere, and the composer on the podium. For a stereo version, Britten's later Decca recording is everything one oculd ask for in terms of detail and sensitivity. Kent Nagano's live performance with Thomas Hampson in the title role rockets out of hte chute with incredible sonics and great impact from the chorus and orchestra.

Compared to those three, this recordding lacks a bit in cintensity and impact. Every single soloist is fine, but so are the ones in the three sets mentioned above. I think the special thing about the singing here is the diction, which is very clear, a hard ting to achieve with so many baritones. But I don't ocme away deeply moved, as I was by Rolf-Johnson's Vere on the Nagaon set or Uppman's Billy on the origianl radio transcript. All in all, this is a very goood reading, however.

Powerful Operatic Tale of Good and Evil.......2003-11-21

Britten - Billy Budd

Benjamin Britten consistently proved himself an operatic and dramatic genius. There are few canons in the history of opera that engage as highly on an emotional and intellectual level as Britten's operas, and certainly no other comparable canon in English. Britten consistently showed exquisite taste in choice of subject, setting of high quality poetic texts and psychological insight...that coupled with works that tackle timeless themes such as the clash of good and evil, and the individual against an uncomprehending society and you have some of the meatiest philosophical work of the 20th century.

Billy Budd did not meet with immediate success. The opera was dubbed The Buggar's Opera by the British Press...a swipe at the proclivities of the opera's co-creators, Britten, E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier. The all male cast also did not endear the work to the standard opera audience initially. In 1961, Britten revised the work, streamlining it into two lengthy acts with a Prologue and Postlude, and tightening some of the passages. In this form the work has steadily gained favor, until now it may rank with Peter Grimes as the composer's most popular opera.

The libretto, taken from Melville's late philosophical tale of Good and Evil aboard a British Man-o-war, is sharply drawn. The three main characters are all flesh and blood and yet represent distinct "types"...Billy Budd is fresh and honest goodness, so fresh and honest to survive in a fallen world. The Master at Arms, John Claggart, is a figure of pure evil, perhaps the best-drawn figure of evil in opera since Verdi and Boito's Iago. Billy Budd is pressed into service aboard the English ship during its wars with Napoleon. Budd is exuberant and embodies all the best qualities of youth and freshness. His attractive qualities bring him into direct conflict with Claggart, who in the opera is subliminally attracted to Billy, but so repressed that he seeks to destroy the sailor. Drawn into this clash of Good and Evil is Vere, the dreamy and heroic captain of the ship. When Claggart comes to Vere to accuse Billy of sedition, Vere knows instinctively that Billy is innocent, yet before he can do anything about it, Billy's temper gets the best of him and he strikes Claggart and kills him. Vere is then faced with the clear imperative to execute Billy for killing a superior officer, even though Vere knows that higher morality exonerates Billy.

Britten and Forster take the bones of this story and arrange it in separate and increasingly powerful scenes. The opening scene including the "recruitment" of men rounded up by press gangs, is dominated by shrill wind calls that illustrate the sheer brutality of life aboard a man-o-war. Underneath there are the beautiful and moving shanties of the sailors, expressing the bleakness of their toil and life. Claggart's entrance and music as he inducts the reluctant recruits is masterful. Claggart's music is brutal and powerful, and each time he enters in subsequent scenes the hair on the back of your neck raises. Other powerfully drawn scenes include Captain Vere's drinks in his cabin with the officers, which include some of the most beautiful lyrical writing in the opera, the below deck revels of the sailors, the confrontation between Billy and Claggart, and the stunning conclusion of the work.

What particularly makes this opera work is Britten's skill in differentiating all the male voices. It is rare that an opera of this length consists of only one voice gender. Perhaps the only other example I can think of is Puccini's Suor Angelica, and that is only a one-acter. Britten keeps things straight by writing highly individual music for all of his characters, even the periphery characters. Claggart's music is brutal and dark, and the voice is a basso profundo and as such immediately recognizable. Vere is a dreamy tenor, of the kind that Peter Pears played so well. Other periphery characters like the spy Squeak, or the Novice, have phrases that render them whole characters within a phrase or two. The music for Billy is perhaps the hardest to create, but Britten seems to catch both his good spirits and his temper so that the threads that make the tragedy are woven into Billy almost from the first time we meet him. Using these highly artificial musical procedures, Britten ends up creating some of the most naturalistic opera imaginable, and when all the disparate musical elements meet in the last scene, the effect is overwhelming.

There are currently three widely available recordings of this opera, the original London recording, with Britten conducting and Pears as Vere, a recording with Thomas Hampson and Kent Nagano conducting, and this Chandos recording. You can't go wrong with any of them. The London recording has the advantage of Pears amazing and amazingly weird voice in a role that was written for him...and John Shirley Quirk's powerful Claggart. But to me the Chandos edges it out by a little, with Langridge's very powerful Vere. In this recording you realize that neither Billy nor Claggart is the main character of this drama, Vere is. Langridge sings the role with restraint and yet with true pathos, so that by the end, you are openly weeping for the man caught in an insoluble moral dilemma. And John Tomlinson's Claggart is even more terrifying than Shirley-Quirk. The Nagano disc has the edge on its Billy though. Thomas Hampson owns the role, though on this release Simon Keelyside does a fine job with the title character. Hickox and Nagano are both in excellent control of the material, and edge out Britten, who's rendition must be considered a benchmark in terms of tempi, but who's skills as a conductor were not always of the highest quality. On balance, I think I'd opt for this disc, were I to only own one version of the opera.

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