Britten: Billy Budd (2-DVD)

Composer: Benjamin Britten
Artists: John Mark Ainsley, Jacques Imbrailo, Phillip Ens, London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Glyndebourne Chorus
Conductor: Mark Elder
Director: Michael Grandage
Format: NTSC
Language: English
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish
Region: All Regions
Label: Opus Arte
DVD Release Date: June 28, 2011
Run Time: 200 minutes

Based on Herman Melville’s novella of naval life in the late 18th century, Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd is a gripping reflection on good and evil, innocence and corruption. In Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s 2010 production, director Michael Grandage scrupulously recreates the claustrophobic environment aboard HMS Indomitable, the setting for fatal tensions between the young sailor Billy Budd, the thoughtful Captain Vere, and the malevolent master-at-arms John Claggart. Conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra is the commanding figure of Mark Elder.

 “… this is the most compelling Billy Budd on video.” (BBC Music Magazine)

“The casting is immaculate, the choral singing is overpowering, and you can almost feel the salt spray flying off Mark Elder’s magnificent conducting.” (The Daily Telegraph)

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