BaL 8.04.23 - Britten: Peter Grimes

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

10.30 am
Building a Library
Kate Kennedy reviews.

Available versions:-

Philip Langridge, Janice Cairns, Alan Opie, Ann Howard, Andrew Greenan, Susan Gorton, Chorus and Orchestra of the English National Opera, David Atherton (DVD)

Stephen Richardson, Gaynor Keeble, Christopher Gillett, Henry Waddington, Robert Murray, Charmian Bedford, Alexandra Hutton, Alan Oke, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, David Kempster, Charles Rice, Giselle Allen, Britten-Pears Orchestra, Chorus of Opera North, Chorus of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Steuart Bedford

Peter Pears, Claire Watson, James Pease, Jean Watson, Geraint Evans, Lauris Elms, David Kelly, Owen Brannigan, Raymond Nilsson, Marion Studholme, Iris Kells,Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Benjamin Britten

Glenn Winslade, Janice Watson, Anthony Michaels-Moore, Jill Grove, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, James Rutherford, Christopher Gillett, Nathan Gunn, London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Colin Davis

Jon Vickers, Lucine Amara, Geraint Evans, Metropolitan Opera, Sir Colin Davis

Jon Vickers, Heather Harper, Jonathan Summers, Elizabeth Bainbridge, Forbes Robinson, Patricia Payne, Thomas Allen, Richard Van Allan, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Sir Colin Davis*

Stuart Skelton, Erin Wall, Roderick Williams, Susan Bickley, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Robert Murray, James Gilchrist, , Marcus Farnsworth, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner (SACD)

Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Donaldson Bell, Christopher Lackner, Dame Felicity Lott, Edward Parry, John Winfield, Stafford Dean, David Wilson-Johnson, Neil Jenkins, Simon Keenlyside, Stuart Kale, Thomas Allen, Jonathan Coad, Sarah Walker, Christopher Keyte, Jonathan Fisher, Richard Hazell, Patricia Payne, Maria Bovino, Tom Cregan, Robbie Gill, Gillian Webster, Lola Biagioni, Betty Allen , Karen Robertson, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orch.Of Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Royal Opera House Covent Garden Chorus
Bernard Haitink*

Philip Langridge, Janice Watson, Alan Opie, Ameral Gunson, John Graham-Hall, John Connell, Anne Collins, Roderick Williams, London Symphony Chorus, City of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox

John Graham-Hall, Susan Gritton, Christopher Purves, Felicity Palmer, Ida Falk Winland, Simona Mihai, Peter Hoare, Daniel Okulitch, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Christopher Gillett, George Von Bergen, Teatro alla Scala,Robin Ticciati (DVD/Blu-ray)

Anthony Dean Griffey, Vivian Tierney, Steven Page, Susan Gorton, John Graham-Hall, Stafford Dean, Jard van Nes, Christopher Maltman, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Glyndebourne Chorus, Mark Wigglesworth

(* = download only)

[Gargoyle]

Hickox &al just ahead of Ben's own recording, for me.

[Pulcinella]

Does anyone know why so few 'scenes' were recorded (or survived?) in 1947, under Goodall?

They are included in the EMI Britten 37CD Collector's Edition, and also in this 5CD set of early recordings of other works by Berkeley and Rubbra:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Britten-Lucretia-Michelangelo-Concerto-Berkeley/dp/B0056H0QOW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=22PYC08JICQRN&keywords=Grimes+lucretia&qid=1679239905&s=music&sprefix=grimes+lucretia%2Cpopular%2C54&sr=1-1

[TBuckley]

The Decca issue of Britten's 1958 recording is now download only (no digital booklet). However, there is an Alto CD issue:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7982642--britten-peter-grimes

[Alison]

An unusually lucky work on disc I suggest.

[Barbirollians]

Hickox for me .

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The Decca issue of Britten's 1958 recording is now download only (no digital booklet). However, there is an Alto CD issue:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...n-peter-grimes

There’s also a big (28 disc) mixed Decca boxset that contains the Britten recording.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8174162--20c-shaping-the-century-vol-1-1900-1949

[smittims]

Hi, Pulcinella, I'll tell you what I know about the EMI/Goodall 'Grimes' recording.

It was financed by the British Council, in response to the favourable reception the opera had received. At that time I don't think any opera by a British composer had been recorded complete (apart from 'Dido and Aeneas'), and remember these were the 'Austerity years'. So only the scenes familiar from various issues were recorded. Similarly, the British Council partly sponsored a recording of 'The Rape of Lucretia' again conducted by Goodall, and in this case it was abridged to about three-quarters of the total length.

A few years later Decca recorded 'The Turn of the Screw' complete and I think that was the first British opera (after Purcell!) to be so treated.

It is, I think, fairly well-known that Goodall rehearsed the 1958 Decca recording, Britten suffering from his recurrent bursitis at the time.

[Pulcinella]

Thanks for that interesting background info, smittins.
(The abridged Rape is also included in both sets I mentioned.)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

They are included in the EMI Britten 37CD Collector's Edition, and also in this 5CD set of early recordings of other works by Berkeley and Rubbra:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Britten-Luc...ar%2C54&sr=1-1

Thank you for pointing this out. I thought the set was nla. I ordered it as soon as I read your post.

[smittims]

Curiously , the 'Grimes' discs were not made public until 1972 (unlike the 'Lucretia' which was issued on 78s) when they appeared, I think, in a box set celebrating Sadlers' Wells. I don't know what the British Council thought, having paid for the recording. The CD reissue includes three 78sides not issued on LP.

[Pulcinella]

Thank you for pointing this out. I thought the set was nla. I ordered it as soon as I read your post.

Lots of good stuff there, Alpie.
One is the Berkeley Horn trio, mentioned recently elsewhere.
Another gem (imho) is the RPO/Del Mar recording of Britten's Prelude and fugue, a work there are surprisingly few recordings of.

[smittims]

I too would call it a gem, the sort of piece one finds going through one's mind for days. This was the first recording, and even then sponsored by the Gulbenkian foundation. Britten himself didn't record it for several years after. I sometimes think he had almost an aversion to (or from) some of his pre-Grimes works. The original EMI LP had Schoenberg's suite for strings and Lutyens 'O Saisons, O Chateaux', all classic performances .

[Darloboy]

Covered by BaL twice before:

Michael Kennedy (May 96): Britten
Martin Handley (July 07): Colin Davis/ROHCG + Atherton as DVD choice

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Lots of good stuff there, Alpie.
One is the Berkeley Horn trio, mentioned recently elsewhere.
Another gem (imho) is the RPO/Del Mar recording of Britten's Prelude and fugue, a work there are surprisingly few recordings of.

It’s just arrived. Can’t wait to get stuck in…