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Billy Budd
Photos by Axel Zeininger
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Composer |
Benjamin Britten |
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Librettist |
EM Forster and Eric Crozier after Herman Melville’s unfinished story. |
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Venue and Dates |
Vienna State Opera 20, 23, 27, September, 1 October 2002 |
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Conductor |
Richard Hickox |
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Director |
Willy Decker |
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Production |
Wolfgang Gussmann (sets) |
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Performers |
Billy Budd : Simon Keenlyside Edward Fairfax Vere : Michael Roider Claggart : James Morris Mr. Redburn : Peter Weber Mr. Flint : Wolfgang Bankl Mr. Ratcliffe : Peter Köves Dansker : Alfred Šramek Red Whiskers : John Dickie Donald : Geert Smits Novice : John Nuzzo Squeak: Cosmin Ifrim Maintop: Peter Jelosits Bosun : Janusz Monarcha First Mate : In-Sung Sim Second Mate : Günther Groissböck Novice’s Friend : Yu Chen Arthur Jones : Rainer Brandstetter (20, 23, 27) : Mario Steller (1) Cabin Boy : Valentin Heidrich (20, 23, 27) : Maria Ebert-Schönauer (1) Midshipmen : Gregorianische Choralschola der Wiener Hofburgkapelle Chorus and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera |
What the critics say
Extract from the German-language newspaper, Kurier, 22nd September 2002 (Peter Jarolin). Translated by Ursula Turecek.
Very close to a sensation. "Billy Budd" new at the State Opera
Can a sensational success be repeated? Yes. With Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd the Vienna State Opera has achieved a great triumph more than a year ago. And the repetition at the “Haus am Ring” left nearly no wishes unfulfilled.
The clever, timeless-modern production by Willy Decker still works very well and grants much space for an individual interpretation of their roles to the protagonists. Above all Simon Keenlyside and James Morris take advantage of this fact. As the always idealistic shining light Billy Budd who is finally condemned to fail the baritone Keenlyside excelled in very respect. Perfect....“
Extract from the Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung, 23rd September 2002 (Edwin Baumgartner).
Translated by Ursula Turecek.
Billy Budd - Triumph of the repertoire
... Simon Keenlyside is the perfect personification of the name part, a performer who acts and sings simply yet intensely whose scene before the execution moves the audience to tears....
Extract from the German-language newspaper, Die Presse, 23rd September 2002.
Translated by Ursula Turecek.
Britten, acclaimed, new Billy Budd with a new cast at the Vienna State Opera: a terrific piece enthrallingly rendered.
It rarely happens that a repertoire performance surpasses itself so much: If the following performances of “Billy Budd” retains what the “dress rehearsal” on Friday promised, something extraordinary is in store for the audience of the State Opera – in defiance of Willy Decker’s production that hardly penetrates under the surface.
.... Simon Keenlyside unites as a magnificent Billy Budd, accomplished lieder singing with juvenile simplicity....
The Vienna State Opera Does Right by Billy Budd. Larry L Lash for Andante.
Billy Budd is still a new work for the Vienna State Opera. Since its premiere in February 2001, Willy Decker's production had until now been performed by only one team (leading men Bo Skovhus, Neil Shicoff and Eric Halfvarson under conductor Donald Runnicles). The new cast has modified some of the excesses of Decker's direction to fit their own interpretations (gone, thankfully, is the moment when Claggart hurls himself flat on his face when he vows to destroy Billy), and with two runs of the opera under their belts, the ensemble, chorus and orchestra are fine-tuning their performances with gratifying results.
Decker provides a basic battle of good versus evil, with Billy in white, Claggart in black and too many stop-action significant glances exchanged between them. The opera's intimate scenes succeed, thanks to the considerable powers of the individual performers, but big ensemble moments seem merely busy, and the chaotic battle scene falls flat with march-on/march-off traffic direction. (That the choristers' eyes were glued to the conductor didn't help matters.) Dominated by large planes of white wood, white sky and white light, Wolfgang Gussmann's abstract sets suggest being at sea, but miss the claustrophobia of being stuck in a boat floating in the middle of it.
Simon Keenlyside can get so deep inside a character that even the tiniest bit of body language seems to spring organically from within, and his internalization of Britten's doomed hero is revelatory. Not the mythic, golden god portrayed by Skovhus, Keenlyside's Billy is all-too human: lithe, almost scrawny (virtually everyone seemed a head taller), a rowdy, impetuous kid brimming with good humor and an endearing, vulnerable innocence. The English baritone's intense but understated physicality spoke volumes. When charged with treason by Claggart, his breathing became heavy as he listened to the accusation and he seemed on the verge of tears; his utter frustration over his inability to defend himself because of his stutter slow-boiled until the death-blow exploded from his fists, knocking Claggart's hat clear across the stage. While capable of heroic power in his ringing upper range, Keenlyside mostly employed a conversational tone which made one forget he was singing. But then, a simple phrase like "Christ, I dreamed I was under the sea" would slip by so subtly and with such well-judged bloom and shading, you wished he would repeat it.
The role of Claggart has virtually belonged to James Morris since he sang it in the premiere of John Dexter's legendary Metropolitan Opera production nearly a quarter-century ago, and he now wears the part like a second snakeskin. Insinuating, vile, unctuous and physically imposing, his master-at-arms was the embodiment of spine-chilling evil. Morris's pitch-dark bass remains in tip-top shape, effortlessly sliding into the depths — when he is told that the Novice, fresh from a lashing, is too weak to walk, his command to "let him crawl" sounded like an invitation to a bottomless pit.
Michael Roider, new to the role of Captain Vere, inconsistently applied a British accent, and he seemed self-conscious and awkward in his movement, as if his shoes were too tight. His voice may be large and strong, but it is steely, dry and a bit short on top — a stylistic throwback to Peter Pears, for whom the role was conceived. (We've become spoiled by hearing leading men like Shicoff and the elegant Philip Langridge in this part.) For now, his Vere lacks dignity and dimension, but Roider has a track-record as an intelligent and interesting artist, and he will likely discover the complexities of the role once he has sung it a few more times.
The multitude of smaller parts in Billy Budd seems to bring out the best in every opera company's male ensemble. As Mr. Redburn, Peter Weber was memorable for a moment of profound anxiety when he paused, ever so slightly, while declaiming Billy's death sentence, as if trying to allow Vere a final opportunity for clemency. Medals for distinguished service also go to Wolfgang Bankl as Mr. Flint (who, with Weber, made a comic gem of the "Don't like the French" duet), Alfred Sramek for his loveable old codger of a Dansker, Cosmin Ifrim as the slimy Squeak and especially to John Nuzzo, who created a compelling portrait from the brief role of the Novice with his plangent tenor.
In his company debut, Richard Hickox brought a sweep and majesty to the score which was sorely lacking in previous performances. Fully in control of the large forces on both sides of the footlights, he proved a sensitive accompanist who knows how to lead a triple-forte passage without swamping his singers. Britten produced some of the most evocative "ocean music" ever written, and in Hickox's hands the orchestral interludes became introspective tone poems, alternately delicate and bold.
With this revival, the Vienna State Opera has gained in snap, precision and confidence — and is on the path to helping make Billy Budd a repertory staple rather than the oddity is has been for the past half century.
What Stays in the Mind: Eleven andante contributors and editors from around the world choose their most memorable (for better or worse) musical events of 2002.
Larry L. Lash, Vienna-based correspondent for Opera News and other publications:
“Britten's Billy Budd at the Vienna State Opera. Simon Keenlyside is one of those rare singers who get so totally inside a role that they seem possessed on stage. He sang gorgeously, and his physical manifestation of Britten's doomed sailor, quite unlike the "golden god" approach usually taken, was human and vulnerable. He was a perfect foil for James Morris' finely tuned Claggart, and Richard Hickox finally got the Vienna Philharmonic to understand this score.“
Photos by Axel Zeininger.