PETER GRIMES

PETER GRIMES:Britten
Original Air Date: 12/10/1977
Pritchard; Vickers, Harper, Gramm, Kraft, Chookasian
SID.19320533
This is Jon Vickers’ fourth and final Peter Grimes broadcast from the Met. Pritchard is an old hand and did the first run of Vickers’ final season as Grimes at the Met (no broadcast) in 1983-84 and David Atherton did the tour. Heather Harper appears on the Covent Garden video with Vickers and the Phillips audio recording. Grimes as much as anyone made the opera into standard repertory, whatever the deviations from the composer’s original intentions. All are experienced hands (Pritchard not at the Met, but elsewhere) and it is indeed a powerful work. He was not Britten’s preferred Grimes, but Vickers regularly trouped this role around the world’s major opera houses and laid much of the foundation for the regular performance of Britten. This is Harper’s Met farewell (two seasons, nine performances) What is missing for Peter Grimes is the 1948 or 1949 broadcast (Jagel and Harrell in 1948, and Sullivan and Tibbett in 1949). These are early performances of a 20th century classic and should be re-heard.