On track: A landmark Peter Grimes

By WILLIAM DART

When Peter Grimes appeared in 1945, this sinister tale of revenge and persecution in a sleepy English fishing village must have seemed to come from nowhere.

In fact, Mussorgsky, Berg and Gershwin were just some of the many eclectic models Benjamin Britten drew on for his revolutionary piece.

Peter Grimes has immediacy and pace, tempered by the poetry of its literary inspirations (an 1810 poem by George Crabbe).

Today, we also hear uncanny premonitions of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. Grimes and Auntie, the faithful Ellen Orford, and a gallery of malevolent village folk are flesh-and-blood characters, who live beyond the vivid music.

The opera must have seemed the perfect choice when the London Symphony Orchestra launched their centenary celebrations this year. Sir Colin Davis conducted the Barbican performances and the venture is available through the orchestra's label, LSO Live.

New Zealanders will feel pride to hear Jonathan Lemalu open the opera as Hobson. Listen to his From Pub to Pub, and ask yourself, why isn't someone setting up a production of Porgy and Bess around this man?

Australian tenor Glenn Winslade has fierce competition in Jon Vickers, Philip Langridge and Peter Pears, but his Grimes is forceful. The final mad scene, strewn with lamenting chromatics and fiery flashes of melody, before finally bursting into song over the pursuing chorus, is the climax.

Janice Watson stands out as the saintly Ellen, and Catherine Wyn-Rogers' Mrs Sedley crackles with viciousness. There are momentary irritations, as expected with a live performance, but compensations when a moment of comedy provokes laughter from the audience.

This is a landmark for the LSO, and superlatives are inadequate to describe the colours Davis draws from the players. The Sea Interludes gleam within their dramatic context and the London Symphony Chorus relish their involvement with such a testy choral challenge.

* Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes (LSO Live LSOOO54, three-disc set, available through Ode Records)