Britten: Billy Budd

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Britten's score is so often praised that we tend to neglect the distinction of Forster and Crozier's libretto, sung in this set with unerring conviction by its three principals. Keenlyside and... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 1st Apr 2000
Catalogue No: CHAN9826
Label: Chandos
Length: 2 hours 44 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

1st December 2008
Building a Library

January 2013

First Choice

Britten: Billy Budd

Work length2:44:19

$45.20

$55.90

$68.80

Matthew Best (bass-baritone), Simon Keenlyside (baritone), Philip Langridge (tenor), Alan Opie (baritone), Quentin Hayes (baritone), Alan Ewing (bass), Daniel Norman (tenor), Roderick Williams (baritone), Mark Padmore (tenor), John Tomlinson (bass), Clive Bayley (bass), Richard Coxon (tenor), Francis Egerton (tenor), Christopher Keyte (bass), Timothy DuFore (baritone), Richard Whitehouse (baritone), Alex Johnston (treble)
London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Tiffin Boys Choir
Richard Hickox

Prologue: I am an old man … (Vere)

Track length5:09

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Act I Scene 1: Pull, me bantams! (First Mate, Second Mate, Sailing Master, Sailor, Bosun, Midshipmen, Donald, Maintop, Deck, Novice, Men, Squeak, Chorus)

Track length6:43

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Act I Scene 1: Boat ahoy! (Maintop, Voice, Midshipmen, Sailing Master, First Lieutenant, Bosun, Ratcliffe)

Track length3:16

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Act I Scene 1: First man forward! (Claggart, Red Whiskers, First Lieutenant, Sailing Master, Jones)

Track length2:16

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Act I Scene 1: Your name? (Claggart, Billy, First Lieutenant, Sailing Master)

Track length2:39

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Act I Scene 1: Billy Budd, king of the birds! (Billy, Sailing Master, First Lieutenant, Ratcliffe)

Track length2:27

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Act I Scene 1: I heard, your honour! (Claggart, Squeak, Novice's Friend)

Track length3:30

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Act I Scene 1: Come along, kid! (Novice's Friend, Novice, Chorus)

Track length4:21

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Act I Scene 1: Christ! The poor chap … (Billy, Dansker, Red Whiskers, Donald)

Track length1:30

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Act I Scene 1: What's that? What's those whistles? (Billy, Donald, Claggart, First Mate, Second Mate, Bosun)

Track length1:15

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Act I Scene 1: Starry Vere we call him. (Donald, Billy, Chorus, Red Whiskers, Dansker, Bosun)

Track length2:17

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Act I Scene 2: Boy! (Vere, Boy)

Track length3:25

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Act I Scene 2: Gentlemen, the King! (Vere, First Lieutenant, Sailing Master)

Track length5:43

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Act I Scene 2: Ay, at Spithead … (Vere, Sailing Master, First Lieutenant)

Track length1:00

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Act I Scene 2: We are, sir. Claggart is an able one. (First Lieutenant, Vere, Sailing Master, Ratcliffe)

Track length6:35

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Act I Scene 3: Blow her away. (Red Whiskers, Chorus, Billy, Donald, Dansker)

Track length2:44

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Act I Scene 3: We're off to Samoa … (Donald, Chorus, Red Whiskers, Billy, Dansker)

Track length3:43

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Act I Scene 3: Hi! You … a … a … ! (Billy, Dansker, Red Whiskers, Donald, Squeak, Billy, Claggart, Boy, Chorus)

Track length3:02

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Act I Scene 3: Over the water … (Claggart, Chorus)

Track length7:29

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Act I Scene 3: Come here. (Claggart, Novice)

Track length6:22

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Act I Scene 3: Billy! … Hist! Billy Budd! (Novice, Billy)

Track length4:23

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Act I Scene 3: Dansker, old friend … (Billy, Dansker)

Track length4:51

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Act II Scene 1: I don't like the look of the mist … (Vere, First Lieutenant)

Track length2:18

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Act II Scene 1: With great regret I must disturb your honour. (Claggart, Vere)

Track length1:03

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Act II Scene 1: Deck ahoy! (Maintop, Bosun, Sailing Master, First Lieutenant, Ratcliffe, Hauling Party, Vere, Gunners, Seamen, After-Guardsmen, Powder-Monkeys, Marines, Chorus)

Track length3:26

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Act II Scene 1: Volunteers! Call for boarding volunteers! (Vere, First Lieutenant, Donald, Red Whiskers, Dansker, Billy, Seamen, After-Guardsmen, Powder-Monkeys, Marines, Gunners, Maintop, Sailing Master, Ratcliffe, Chorus)

Track length8:13

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Act II Scene 1: There you are again, Master-at-Arms. (Vere, Claggart, Boy)

Track length5:01

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Act II Scene 1: Oh, this cursed mist! (Vere, First Lieutenant, Sailing Master, Ratcliffe)

Track length4:03

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Act II scene 2: Claggart, John Claggart, beware! (Vere, Billy)

Track length3:36

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Act II Scene 2: Master-at-Arms and foretopman … (Vere, Claggart, Billy)

Track length3:19

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Act II Scene 2: God o' mercy! (Vere, Boy)

Track length2:10

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Act II Scene 2: Gentlemen, William Budd here … (Vere, First Lieutenant, Sailing Master, Ratcliffe)

Track length1:33

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Act II scene 2: William Budd, you are accused … (First Lieutenant, Vere, Billy)

Track length5:48

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Act II Scene 2: Poor fellow, who could save him? (First Lieutenant, Sailing Master, Ratcliffe)

Track length5:02

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Act II Scene 2: I accept their verdict. (Vere)

Track length5:15

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Act II Scene 3: Look! (Billy)

Track length6:05

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Act II Scene 3: Here! Baby! (Dansker, Billy)

Track length4:10

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Act II Scene 3: And farewell to ye … (Billy)

Track length5:47

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Act II Scene 4: Interlude

Track length3:11

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Act II Scene 4: According to the Articles of War … (All except Vere)

Track length2:17

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Act II Scene 4: Down all hands! (First Lieutenant, Sailing Master, Ratcliffe, Chorus)

Track length2:26

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Epilogue: We committed his body to the deep. (Vere)

Track length4:56

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About

Composer Guides, Benjamin Britten

Presto’s founder Maurice Millward sifts through a treasure-chest of Britten recordings and offers his thoughts on which paint the best portrait of this influential genius.

Obituary, Richard Hickox

1st December 2008

Reviews

2010

Britten's score is so often praised that we tend to neglect the distinction of Forster and Crozier's libretto, sung in this set with unerring conviction by its three principals. Keenlyside and Langridge deserve special mention for their arresting sensitivity throughout the final scenes, when they make the utterances of Billy and Vere so poetic and moving: refined tone allied to eloquent phrasing – the epitome of English singing at its very best. Keenlyside has a voice of just the right weight and an appreciation of how Billy must be at once sympathetic and manly. From first to last you realise the lad's personal magnetism in vocal terms alone, explaining the crew's admiration for his qualities. Langridge is the complete Vere, suggesting the man's easy command of men, his poetic soul, his agony of mind at the awful decision placed in his hands to sacrifice Billy. At the opposite end of the human spectrum, Claggart's dark, twisted being and his depravity of thought are ideally realised by Tomlinson, give or take one or two moments of unsteadiness when his voice comes under pressure. In supporting roles there's also much to admire. Mark Padmore conveys all the Novice's terror in a very immediate, tortured manner. Clive Bayley's Dansker is full of canny wisdom. Alan Opie is a resolute Mr Redburn.
Matthew Best's is an appropriately powerful Mr Flint, though his large, gritty bass-baritone records uneasily.
Hickox conducts with all his old zest for marshalling large forces, searching out every cranny of the score, and the London Symphony forces respond with real virtuosity. Speeds now and again sound a shade too deliberate, and there's not always quite that sense of an ongoing continuum you feel in both of Britten's readings, which are by and large tauter. But the Chandos, using the revised two-act version, comes into most direct competition with Britten's later Decca set. The latter still sounds well, though inevitably it hasn't the aural range of the Chandos recording. Yet nobody will ever quite catch the creative tension the composer brings to his own work. For all that, the Chandos set benefits from this trio of imaginative singers, and most newcomers will be satisfied with its appreciable achievement.

2010

the finest cast of principals yet assembled...In Philip Langridge the role of Vere has found its most thoughtful interpreter yet...Comparably magnetic is John Tomlinson's Claggart, the personification of evil, chillingly malevolent in every inflexion...Keenlyside as Billy gains over all rivals in the fresh, youthful incisiveness of the voice

March 2014

an outstanding trio of principals – Philip Langridge's erudite, conflicted Captain Vere, Simon Keenlyside's virile yet innocent-sounding Billy and John Tomlinson's pitch-black Claggart. The smaller roles, too, are beautifully characterised, with cameos from young British singers who would go on to make their mark as front-ranking interpreters of Britten's music.

Britten: Billy Budd

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Contents

Composer Guides, Benjamin Britten

Obituary, Richard Hickox

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