Benjamin Britten, Colin Davis, Jon Vickers, Heather Harper, Covent Garden Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, John Dobson, Richard van Allan, John Lanigan, Anne Pashley, Patricia Payne, Forbes Robinson, Jonathan Summers, Elizabeth Bainbridge, Teresa Cahill - Britten: Peter Grimes

A robust and idiomatic performance of this key opera

This was the first opera recording I ever listened to and it got me hooked. I've since acquired the Pears / Britten interpretation on Decca, but (so far) have been unable to relinquish my loyalty to this Philips set. The two major pillars here are Jon Vickers as Peter Grimes and Colin Davis overseeing the whole work. Vickers makes Grimes much more powerful, agressive, threatening and tortured than Pears. Right from the first bars - in the court room scene - it's clear that Vickers is going to put his heart and soul into this role. Indeed, such is the depth of his portrayal that one cannot help a degree of sympathy for the "sadistic fisherman". In fact, it is Vickers' ability to generate a complex mix of feelings in the listener that gives Grimes a real human dimension. I confess to a personal feeling that Vicker's is the better of the two interpretations. His singing in key scenes such as "The truth... the pity..." and, particularly, "Now the Great Bear and Pleiades" simply makes more of the score than does Pears. Clearly, to judge by the Decca recording by the composer, Britten did not intend this though.

Heather Harper should also be mentioned as a beautiful, compassionate and thoroughly believable Ellen Orford. Her "Let her among you" and "Glitter of waves" are wonderful. The Chorus is superb too. And finally, the orchestra plays immaculately to provide stalwart backing to the singers as well as offering up excellent Sea Interludes.

The sound here is superb. There are one or two noticeable edits, but nothing too serious. This version comes without a libretto, but that's easy enough to find electronically. So, if you're after a Peter Grimes, then it's down to Britten or Davis and you can't go far wrong with either. Those who love the opera will want both since the interpretations are so different. November 15, 2005

Maybe not what Britten imagined, but definitive in its own way

Benjamin Britten, as composer and conductor, clearly preferred the lighter-toned and more shaded Peter Grimes characterization of his muse and partner, Peter Pears, as can be heard in the classic late '50s recording on Decca/London. Light-toned Jon Vickers is not; nor is he especially English-sounding in the role of an outcast fisherman in 19th century coastal Britain. But for psychological (and physical) tension, Vickers' Grimes is in a class by itself. Among other things, Vickers conveys a sense of barely concealed menace that makes the villagers' ostracization of him understandable, if not defensible. A very strong argument can be made for preferring this harder-edged "Grimes" over the composer's own, and Vickers' portrayal is not the only reason. All of the elements in this performance--and particularly the incisive conducting of Sir Colin Davis---coalesce into a galvanizing whole. The more "theatrical" production of the Britten/Pears set, with sound effects such as one would hear in the opera house, may be missed here, as is a libretto. However, these omissions are easily overlooked as you're caught up in the net this "Grimes" casts over the waters. October 18, 2005

Paul Bunyan agonistes

I can imagine why the composer walked out on a performance of his seminal opera by Jon vickers. Vickers is so impolite, so un-English to the core. In the original conception, the character and motivation of Britten's hero--or is it anti-hero?--are shadowy, ambiguous to the end. There are elements of anti-social behavior, heroic isolation, mental illness, enormous determination in the face of Nature, and a suggestion of unwholesome sexual inclinations. This distrubing outsider is never fully explained--and that's problem in the theater.

It's hard to find a straight dramatic line in this work, and too often the audience loses interest despite the wonderful music. In this instance Vickers cuts through the shadows. His Grimes is a giant in agony, a raw, disquieting force that no society could contain. Vickers throws away the careful shading of Peter Pears' performance and makes Grimes a tough customer whose perpetual mood is inward agony and seething rage.

It's a great performance on its own terms, which aren't exactly the composer's, but then, Vickers did much the same with Siegmund and Otello, Rhadames and Florestan. No one has suffered better in opera. September 28, 2005

A great performance that rivals the composer's own

Britten was said to have hated Jon Vickers' performance as Grimes and one can see why. Nothing (and no tenor since) could be further from Peter Pears, for whom he had written the part. Let's face it, for all his usual beauty of tone and heady high notes, Pears sounds just too urbane, too sophisticated, too intellectual, too smooth for the rough, tough character as written in Crabbe and in the libretto.

Vickers, on the other hand, is a huge brute of a man (aurally even more than physically). We are left in no doubt that his treatment of apprentices can be rough and bullying, easily leading to the 'accidental circumstances' of their deaths. ("To lose one apprentice...etc.") And his descent into madness is truly terrifying. Which is not say that he misses out on the dreamer in Grimes, the side of the character that could be said to be Pears' strength. The scene in the clifftop hut sees Vickers lurch absolutely credibly from anger and violence and frustration to his all too human dreams of a better life with the schoolmistress, Ellen Orford, all within the space of just a few bars.

I grew up with Pears' Grimes and love it to this day. But Vickers' fisherman is a different beast - almost as viscerally exciting on disc as he was in the theatre. And, perhaps a mark of a great opera, the part will sustain both interpretations, whatever the composer thought. I wouldn't part with either.

The rest of the cast are no slouches either. Heather Harper was probably the best of all Ellens and the smaller parts are in the more than capable hands of the likes of Thomas Allen, Richard van Allen and the venerable (as he was by then) and much missed John Lanigan. Colin Davis's conducting is exemplary, perhaps with an ounce more energy and drive than on his more recent LSO performance, but perhaps with a gram less depth as well.

The opera is an unbelievable 60 years old now - about as far from us as Grimes was from late Wagner and Verdi! It deserves to have two classic performances such as this and the composer's own. And any collection deserves to have both on its shelves.
August 18, 2005

WOW

There isn't really a way to sufficiently extol this recording.

'Peter Grimes' is arguably Benjamin Britten's greatest opera...not bad when you consider the high stature of many of his other operas. The first British opera to achieve repertory status since Purcell's Dido, 'Peter Grimes' is an arresting, jarring tale in which the orchestra is as much a character as any of the vocal roles.

The supporting cast are all excellent, singing with great confidence and a sure understanding of the music. Heather Harper projects beautifully, resonant yet immediate. Patricia Payne makes a delightfully irritating town gossip, and Forbes Robinson's Swallow is commanding and, at times, sinister.

Sir Colin Davis and the Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, take on a role themselves, with the chorus overpowering in their larger numbers, while the orchestra occasionally threatens to overwhelm the chorus and soloists completely...witness, for example, the power of "Look, The Storm Cone!"

The jewel in this crowning recording, however, is Jon Vickers' heart-wrenchingly powerful Peter Grimes. In sharp contrast to Peter Pears' more lush, lyrical approach, Vickers brings out the angular, sharp brutality of Grimes, creating a powerfully compelling portrait of madness and delusion. He attacks the role of Peter Grimes with such convincing tragedy that you might just find yourself sympathizing with the sadistic fisherman!

Vickers' reading of Grimes is mighty and magnificent, his sometimes shrill voice penetrating over the full chorus and orchestra. Britten's writing (of which I haven't heard much) alternates between moments of great complexity, with several musical ideas being juggled about, and periods of arresting simplicity, such as Grimes' soliloquy, "Now the Great Bear and Pleiades."

Regarded as one of the seminal recordings of this great masterpiece, the Philips offering has been recommended alongside (and, in some cases, in place of) Britten's own recording.

While the opera is in English, be aware that the Philips notes do NOT include a libretto. That small omission, however, pales in comparison to the magnificent performance here. I must agree with the Amazon.com editorial, this is a TRUE bargain! March 5, 2005

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