04/26/2010
Billy Budd Recording
"The Story of an Innocent, Boldly Told"
By Anthony Tommasini
Published: April 26, 2010
THERE are several classic recordings of Benjamin Britten’s “Billy Budd,” including the 1967 Decca release conducted by Britten, with Peter Glossop in the title role and Peter Pears in a haunting, multilayered account of a role written for him, Captain Vere.
The conductor Daniel Harding, who, with the London Symphony Orchestra and the baritone Nathan Gunn in the title role, recorded a live version of Benjamin Britten’s opera “Billy Budd” in 2007.
Even amid the strong competition, the newest “Billy Budd” stands out: a Virgin Classics release (5 19039 2; three CDs) recorded live in December 2007, featuring the rising English conductor Daniel Harding, the London Symphony Orchestra and the exciting American baritone Nathan Gunn as the young sailor Billy Budd, a boyishly handsome, simple-minded and thoroughly decent foundling who is pressed into naval service aboard the British ship Indomitable in 1797.
In an inspired casting choice, the tenor Ian Bostridge brings his alluring, ethereal voice to Vere, the well meaning but foolishly rigid captain of the Indomitable. Still, what drives this engrossing performance is Mr. Harding’s insightful conducting.
At 34, Mr. Harding, a protégé of Claudio Abbado, already boasts acclaimed appearances with many of the world’s leading opera houses and orchestras. He is the music director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the principal conductor of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the principal guest conductor of the London Symphony. Along the way he has had setbacks, including a brouhaha at the Paris National Opera five years ago, when he walked out of a production of Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte” after one rehearsal, stating that the orchestra musicians had been uncooperative.
Many New York music lovers may not know his work. Mr. Harding has yet to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera. He will make his New York Philharmonic debut in the 2010-11 season. This impressive recording testifies to his enormous gifts and expertise.
“Billy Budd,” with an all-male cast, is at once a pulsing grand opera with massed choral scenes and lavish orchestration, and a penetrating psychological drama. Mr. Harding brings savvy pacing and intensity to the sweeping spectacle. Yet even during the fitful choral episode in which the Indomitable crew pursues an enemy French ship, only to lose it as mists descend, Mr. Harding draws nuanced, transparent playing from the orchestra and unforced power from the men of the London Symphony Chorus.
Mr. Harding has drawn criticism for performances that favor lean orchestral sound and cool expressivity. Yet the touch of reserve he brings to the aching moments of “Billy Budd” makes the music even more poignant, as when the Novice (the tenor Andrew Kennedy) is dragged on deck after having been flogged for a petty infraction, on orders from the malevolent master-at-arms, John Claggart (the bass-baritone Gidon Saks, in a chilling performance). The Novice, in halting phrases, says that the public shame of being flogged is worse than the pain of the lashes. In a hushed moment of this riveting recording, the Novice is consoled by subdued strings, a forlorn solo saxophone and the pitying voices of the sailors.
Billy Budd, who is constantly complimented and kidded by his mates for being a beauty, has become a signature role for Mr. Gunn, who utterly embodies Billy onstage. This recording highlights how well he sings the music. He has robust sound and youthful energy when they are called for. But in the final soliloquy, just before Billy is hanged for having given a fatal blow to Claggart, Mr. Gunn spins the dumbfounded sailor’s wrenching lines with aching tenderness and finespun pianissimos.
It is time for Mr. Gunn to sing Billy Budd at the Met. How about with Mr. Harding conducting?