Britten - Billy Budd / Hampson · Rolfe Johnson · Halfvarson · Smythe · Saks · Nagano

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Benjamin Britten's "Billy Budd," based on Melville's story, is the second-best opera about life on the sea since Wagner's "Flying Dutchman"--the best being Britten's "Peter Grimes." It is one of the 20th Century's most tragic operas and the only important opera with an all-male cast. Its music evokes the ocean: the winds and waves, the sailors' songs, and the harsh realities of a seaman's life on a British 18th-century man-of-war. It climaxes in a deadly confrontation between pure good, embodied in the young sailor Billy Budd (Hampson), and pure evil in the sadistic master at arms, John Claggart (Halfvarson). Composed in 1951, it was shortened to the now standard two acts by Britten for a broadcast in 1960. This brilliant first recording of the original four-act version shows that much was lost in the revision. --Joe McLellan

Britten - Billy Budd / Hampson · Rolfe Johnson · Halfvarson · Smythe · Saks · Nagano, Music, Benjamin Britten, Hallé Orchestra, Kent Nagano, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Thomas Hampson, Eric Halfvarson, Russell Smythe, Gidon Saks, Manchester Boys Choir Simon Wilding, British 20th/21st Century Opera, Classical, Classical Music, Opera, Opera/Operetta, Orchestral & Symphonic

Britten - Billy Budd / Hampson · Rolfe Johnson · Halfvarson · Smythe · Saks · Nagano
Average customer rating:

Britten at his best

A riveting live performance, in great sound

This performance falls short

Great Opera, Great performance ,Splendid Sound Quality

Incredible

Britten - Billy Budd / Hampson · Rolfe Johnson · Halfvarson · Smythe · Saks · Nagano
Benjamin Britten , Hallé Orchestra , Kent Nagano , Anthony Rolfe Johnson , Thomas Hampson , Eric Halfvarson , Russell Smythe , Gidon Saks , and Manchester Boys Choir Simon Wilding
Manufacturer: Wea International
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000006CS4
Release Date: 2005-08-17

Tracks:

Billy Budd: Act 1: Prologue
Billy Budd: Act 1: Scene I: Pull, My Bantams
Billy Budd: Act 1: Scene I: Send For John Claggart
Billy Budd: Act 1: Scene I: Billy Budd, King Of The Birds (Billy)
Billy Budd: Act 1: Scene I: I Heard, Your Honour! (Claggar)
Billy Budd: Act 1: Scene I: Come Along, Kid!
Billy Budd: Act 1: Scene I: Christ, The Poor Chap, The Poor Little Runt! (Billy)
Billy Budd: Act 1: Scene I: Vere! Vere! Officers And Men... (Vere)
Billy Budd: Act 2: Scene I: My Compliments... (Vere)
Billy Budd: Act 2: Scene I: Don't Like The French!
Billy Budd: Act 2: Scene I: Oh, That's Nothing (Vere)
Billy Budd: Interlude and Scene 2: Blow Her Away
Billy Budd: Act 2: Scene 2: Here Lads!
Billy Budd: Act 2: Scene 2: Come Out Of That! (Billy)
Billy Budd: Act 2: Scene 2: O Beauty, O Handsomeness (Claggart)
Billy Budd: Act 2: Scene 2: Come Here, Remember Your Promise! (Claggart)
Billy Budd: Act 2: Scene 2: Billy! Hist, Billy Budd!
Billy Budd: Act 2: Scene 2: Dansker, Old Friend (Billy)

Tracks:

Billy Budd: Act 3: Scene 1: I Don't Like The Look Of The Mist! (Vere)
Billy Budd: Act 3: Scene 1: Deck Ahoy!
Billy Budd: Act 3: Scene 1: All Guns Ready Sir!
Billy Budd: Act 3: Scene 1: There Are You Again, Master-At-Arms (Vere)
Billy Budd: Act 3: Scene 1: Nay, Nay, You're Mistaken (Vere)
Billy Budd: IInterlude and Scene 2: Claggart, John Claggart, Beware (Vere)
Billy Budd: Act 3: Scene 2: You Wanted To See Me (Billy)
Billy Budd: Act 3: Scene 2: God O'Mercy! (Vere)
Billy Budd: Act 3: Scene 2: Interlude. William Budd, You Are Accused
Billy Budd: Act 3: Scene 2: Poor Fellow, Who Could Save Him?
Billy Budd: I Accept Their Verdict (Vere)
Billy Budd: Act 4: Scene 1: Look! Through The Port Comes The Moonshine Astray! (Billy)
Billy Budd: Act 4: Scene 1: And Farewell To Ye (Billy)
Billy Budd: Act 4: Scene 1: According To The Articles Of War
Billy Budd: Act 4: Scene 1: Starry Vere
Billy Budd: Act 4: Scene 1: We Committed His Body To The Deep (Vere)

Amazon.com essential recording

Benjamin Britten's "Billy Budd," based on Melville's story, is the second-best opera about life on the sea since Wagner's "Flying Dutchman"--the best being Britten's "Peter Grimes." It is one of the 20th Century's most tragic operas and the only important opera with an all-male cast. Its music evokes the ocean: the winds and waves, the sailors' songs, and the harsh realities of a seaman's life on a British 18th-century man-of-war. It climaxes in a deadly confrontation between pure good, embodied in the young sailor Billy Budd (Hampson), and pure evil in the sadistic master at arms, John Claggart (Halfvarson). Composed in 1951, it was shortened to the now standard two acts by Britten for a broadcast in 1960. This brilliant first recording of the original four-act version shows that much was lost in the revision. --Joe McLellan

Customer Reviews:

Britten at his best.......2007-02-05

I must admit that I am late in coming to this wonderful recording. I purchased the more recent Chandos recording led by Hickox that features Simon Keenlyside in the title role. That recording is wonderful and you may read my review thereof if you wish, but let us come to this equally fine reading of Britten's masterful score by Nagano and company. Here we find Billy Budd in it's original Four Act version. The added (or rather, subtracted) material brings with it a greater understnding of the characters, particularly Captain Vere and how his men perceive him, but is not necessary to the drama and was thusly omitted. The music is hauntingly beautiful and if you are familiar with the more commercialy available Two Act version, then the restored music found here will be a real treat. The singing is most excellent, particularly from Thomas Hampson in the title role. This wonderful baritone has the perfect tone quality for the role of Billy and his English declamation is superb. He is nicely foiled by the Claggart of Eric Halfvarson, whose dark, menacing tone rules the set when he is present. Caught between them as Vere is Anthony Rolfe Johnson. The Englishman's tenor is well-suited if a little light for Vere's high-lying line. The men of the ensemble sing magnificently and Nagano absolutely flies through the score, though the listener never feels that he is rushing, only that the action is leading to its inevitable, tragic end. Very highly recommended!

A riveting live performance, in great sound.......2005-10-27

The British prefer Britten operas not to be overly exciting, and even the composer's classic Decca recording of Billy Budd is much less dynamic than the premiere performance from 1951, which can still be heard in serviceable pirated mono (VAI). Kent Nagaon changed all that with this riveting live performance from 1997 with the Halle Orchestra, playing as if their lives depended on it. The full oppression and buried anger of the sailors is caught from the very first and builds with tremendous force to the moment when they witness, through frightening wordless agony, the hanging of Billy Budd.

Nagano conducts the original 4-act version, but his tempos are vigorous enough to capture the whole opera on 2 CDs (other recordings, even of the revised 2-act version, take three). Abetted by sonics that are super-charged with vitality, Nagaono papers over the stretches of less-than-compelling music that crop up, and he uses ever-shifting orchestral color to enliven the potential monotony of an all-male opera.

Of the leads, Rolfe-Johnson stands out for his haunted, emotionallly driven Vere, the best reading in dramatic terms since Pears premiered the role. Hampson doesn't sound as young as Simon Keenlyside on the Hickox set, or as charmistmatic and innocent as Thomas Uppmann at the premiere, but he is a great interpreter of this role, once you accept that he often sounds more like Thomas Hampson than a gang-pressed British sailor. Halfverson sings a dark Claggart with plenty of ocnviction, but there is wobble in his voice, and it clouds his diciton. The minor roles are sung very well; the chorus is the best on ecords.

Altogether, this is a riveting musical experience, and it should convert many American listeners to one of the masterpieces of opera in English, a work fully the equal and in some ways the superior to Peter Grimes, which is much better known in this country.

This performance falls short.......2004-10-12

I appreciate this recording of Billy Budd as a historical document. The liner notes give insight into the original 1951 production and argue the strengths of the four-act version of the opera. We get to hear Captain Vere address the ship's crew before sailing into enemy waters, which motivates Billy's declaration of loyalty to him.

I feel, however, that this recording is lacking on several levels. Kent Nagano conducts the work at such a brisk pace that it feels like he was mandated to fit the work onto two CDs instead of three. Some scenes aren't given enough breath and breadth, like the 34-chord interlude after Billy's trial.

Thomas Hampson sings Billy with careful, attentive declamation but it doesn't sound like he is embodying the young, free-spirited sailor. Anthony Rolfe Johnson has a crystal-clear tone that doesn't suit Captain Vere. In the main action of the drama the captain is a world-wise commander and in the prologue/epilogue he is a world-weary old man. ARJ just sounds too youthful and robust for the role. Eric Halfvarson's Claggart is a constant distraction. His snarling bass has a wobbly shake instead of a vibrato, which grates to my ear.

This version might be worth borrowing from your library network, but the set to own is the Chandos release conducted by Richard Hickox. Each soloist is suited to his role, from ranking officer down to able seaman, and the dramatic pace is powerfully effective.

Great Opera, Great performance ,Splendid Sound Quality.......2003-08-06

My own bias: Melville lover. This is the only 20th century opera in English I've ever found really emotionally involving as a drama. It's a unique blend of 20th century sensibility and 20th century style with, somehow a 19th century flavor. Note how Billy's Act IV moonlight reflections on his execution set for the dawn is set to the same gentle rocking figure that Berlioz used for Hylas' lonely song in Les Troyens. I wonder whether it is even possible that Britten in 1950 could have known that Berlioz piece. The libretto by WH Auden is a wonderful humanizing of Melville's hard crystalline cerebral story of a good man confronting a fathomless evil, and "having" to abet the evil by killing a purely good man for the "greater good" of his ship and country. He manages to get across a great deal of the complexity of Melville's short novel while adding opportunities for warmth and humor. And manages to make a slightly fatuous "Captain Vere has become a good man due to his contact with Billy" ending a reasonably acceptable conclusion even to someone like me who would prefer to leave the tale as Melville did, without that comforting thought.
Britten takes full advantage of every opportunity Auden gives him, setting scenes that move like good drama, with sweep and pace, and creates an unforgettable ending with the brass writing for Billy's hanging somehow dangling and twisting in the air with his body (never seen in either of the two productions I've seen) No need. Britten is both eyes and ears here.
I've never seen the 4-act version, just the 2-act revision
usually staged. Much was lost in the cutting. This recording is in really magnificent full throated sound with a very strong cast singing wonderfully and Kent Nagano never missing an opportunity for meaningfull phrasing. He instills, improbably but beautifully, a delicacy which is a perfect counterbalance to the vastness of the story and the orchestral force involved. I can see that i've gushed here. This recording deserves it. One of the treasures of my collection.

Incredible.......2003-06-24

All I can say is that the singers, orchestra, and conductor were a perfect match for this recording. I have seen Kent Negano many a time at the LA Opera and am always impressed, but this is his most impressive endeavor yet. Hampson and Rolfe Johnson sing the heck out of the roles. In general a superb recording to have in your collection.

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

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Sunday Morning Classics-Daybreak Reverie

The Truth Will Rock You

No Assembly Required [Hybrid SACD]

Luce

Tha Locust [Explicit Lyrics]

The Sidewalks Of New York: Tin Pan Alley [Cast Recording]

Prokofiev:Piano Concertos 1 & 3