You want to love this new recording of one of Britten’s very greatest operas. Daniel Harding paces the work expertly and has the LSO (and chorus) in top form. The battle scene at the beginning of Act 2 is viscerally exciting as well as uncommonly transparent. Nathan Gunn makes a fine Billy, catching the character’s nobility and innocence without making him seem so saintly as to be unbelievable. Ian Bostridge’s Captain Vere finds the tenor in fine voice, singing with his usual sensitivity to the text. If anything, he comes off as perhaps too aristocratic to be an 18th-century sea captain, and his youthful sound doesn’t exactly exude maturity and authority, but it’s an absorbing portrait all the same, and very good singing as such.
But these two key characters aside, the casting is very disappointing. The long opening scene, leading up to Billy’s arrival on board, is painful. Jonathan Lemalu croaks out the extensive role of Mr. Flint with a ragged tone that turns his solo number (“We seem to have the devil’s own luck”) into a chore. Gidon Saks’ Claggart is even worse, and all the more depressing as Harding sets up his entrances magnificently. Lacking the low notes the role requires, he shouts his way through the role in a manner that would make Fischer-Dieskau blush. His angry “I heard your honor” is an offense against music; his “Beauty” aria a joke (when he sings “I will destroy you” his voice thins out and vanishes entirely). Yes, Britten’s melodic lines are often angular. All the more reason, then, to actually sing them.
What this means in practical terms is that Act 2, which features more of Billy and Captain Vere, comes off better than Act 1, which unfortunately is much longer. I should also add that the smaller roles, led off by Matthew Best’s Dansker (he was Flint on Hickox’s recording), are well cast. The result is an even split: 50 percent very good, 50 percent lousy, and given the CD competition (Britten himself the obvious first choice, Hickox also excellent, and Nagano offering Britten’s original, three-act score), this newcomer isn’t competitive. It’s really a shame, as this release gives us some of Harding’s best work to date. The live sonics manage to minimize the usual dryness of the Barbican Center’s concert hall, but can’t compensate for the poor singing.
