This first Venice production of Billy Budd was hailed as a ‘notable achievement’ by the local and international press. While other Britten performances in Europe can be stylistically way off target, albeit sometimes with revelatory results, the Teatro La Fenice’s Billy Budd is convincingly idiomatic. Everybody here has got to grips with the language, the text and the import of the drama.

The cast is headed by Keith Lewis, sounding uncannily Pears-like as Captain Vere. The sensitivity and authority of the man are nicely balanced in his portrayal, except when he gets carried away in the heat of the drama and shouts rather than sings (though that, in itself, shows the extent of his involvement). More problematical are fallibilities at the top of the voice, where his tenor wobbles or cracks. Mark Oswald makes a gentle and lyrical Billy Budd, though one with limited charisma. This is an awkward role, like Don Giovanni, which gives the performer few opportunities to create the aura it demands. Almost all the smaller parts are taken satisfactorily and though Isaac Karabtchevsky’s conducting burns on a long, slow fuse, it does take fire by the end.

Probably the most valuable feature of the set is that it affords one last example of the art of Monte Pederson, who died aged 43 less than 18 months after this performance. His Claggart may be less fearsome than some, but the role gains, rather than loses, from his refusal to indulge in melodrama, and it is eloquently sung.

Is this enough to add up to a recommendation? Not really. The sound quality is poor for a live recording today, especially in the first half-hour, where the voices are too far from the microphones. The stage noises are legion. The breaks between the CDs are excruciating. If a live performance appeals, then try VAI Audio’s set of the opera’s première in its original version at Covent Garden under Britten himself. Here was an evening when caution was thrown to the winds. The power and intensity of that first ever Billy Budd are unlikely to be equalled.