Customer Reviews

Gay: Beggar's Opera

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Benjamin Britten's version of John Gay's "ballad opera" is the least known of his stage works, and - along with "Gloriana" - one of the last to be recorded. No doubt most people, even those who know & love "Peter Grimes,""The Turn of the Screw" & all the other Britten operas that have won a secure place in the repertoire, assume that as a mere "arrangement" it's somehow less typical, or less worthy of attention. Not so: it's a thoroughly Brittenesque, and brilliant, work in which the tunes just happen to be pre-existing ones. In its structural, harmonic and (particularly) orchestral invention, it fully deserves to stand alongside other works of the late 1940s like "The Rape of Lucretia,""The Little Sweep" & "Albert Herring." What started in the 1720s as a play for actors who could carry a tune has actually become a "real" opera for singers who can handle spoken dialogue. In completely modern musical terms, Britten succeeds in restoring some degree of satirical bite and ferocity to material that had lapsed into prettiness, not least in the famous 1920s Austin version. Britten is closer in spirit to Brecht & Weill's "Threepenny Opera" ("Dreigroschenoper"), tho every bar bears his compositional fingerprints.
This 1993 recording, the first and so far only modern one, is very good and lots of fun besides. Under the authoritative direction of Steuart Bedford, and supported by a crack instrumental ensemble, an experienced cast of singer-actors does generally fine work. They include: Philip Langridge (Macheath), Ann Murray (Polly), Yvonne Kenny (Lucy), Robert Lloyd (Mr. Peachum) and Anne Collins (Mrs. P.). Since Decca/London has, mysteriously, failed to include this in their 2 big Britten opera boxes, you'll need to buy it separately. It's worth it.
2 reservations, both minor. First, Bedford occasionally luxuriates too much in the beauty of the scoring - especially compared to the composer himself (see below). And while I understand why dialogue director Michael Geliot has shaken things up by rewriting the dialogue (not merely trimming it), anyone who knows Gay's original lines may find it a bit disconcerting to hear paraphrases.
Finally: Recently [2005], Pearl has released an astonishing find on 1 CD: a (musically) near-complete studio broadcast from 1948 with Britten conducting the original cast of the English Opera Group production for whom this version was written, including Peter Pears as Macheath and Nancy Evans as Polly. This is also a must-have - terrific!

The Deutsch review above is perfect. This is a wonderful setting, not perhaps for purists but for lovers of music. The orchestral invention is great, the best of Britten's chamber operas in its coupling of instruments with characters.
My only quibble is with Deutsch's fondness for Britten's 1948 recording. This is fine, but the sound is so bad that the subtlety is lost. And the very fine singers cannot compensate.
So the Bedford one is where you MUST start. Then on to the 1948. Lovers of Britten, Gay, opera etc will of course need both