British Music Focus: Billy Budd
Popular able seaman Billy Budd is accused by master-at-arms John Claggart of plotting mutiny. Budd's stutter prevents him from defending himself in any other way than by striking Claggart, who dies from the blow. As an old man, Captain Vere looks back at this incident on HMS Indomitable and wonders if he had any other option than to sentence Billy to death. One of Britten's most richly worked operatic scores is performed by English National Opera with Simon Keenlyside in the title role.
English National Opera Chorus and Orchestra, conductor Andrew Litton Act1
7.55 Twenty Minutes: Billy Budd - a Song ofInnocence Tim Healey has been interested in Britten's work ever since singing on the first recording of the composer's War Requiem as a choirboy. Here he considers the sources of Britten's inspiration when he wrote Billy Budd - principally Herman Melville's novella, which referred back to mutinies in the US and British navies, and from which the opera derives its title.
8.15 Act 2