An excellent recording of most of the original cast. I was never a big fan of Peter Pears but he is great in this role, as well as the rest of the cast. I highly recommend this.

Kubelik's approach to the score is revelatory. Having several recordings of this, my favorite opera, this one makes a very very welcome addition to my collection. Pears is heart-breaking as usual.

I saw this production in 1958 - my first Peter Grimes - and yes it was shattering though memory tells me it was the chorus that really struck me then. Pears was not just a Britten interpreter, I'd already seen him at Covent Garden as Vasek in The Bartered Bride - a role which that other greatest of Grimes interpreters, though quite rightly different, Jon Vickers, later sang at the Met. - probably the best performer of that role I've ever experienced. Sylvia Fisher was my first Marshallin and the same year she sang Ellen she also sang her first Sieglinde. James Pease, whi died all too young, shared the role of Wotan with Hans Hotter in my first Ring in 1956. Kubelik was sadly underrated in his 3 year tenure at Covent Garden yet as well as this Peter Grimes he conducted an unforgettable Otello and the historic first complete performance of The Trojans anywhere - of which the superb BBC broadcast with Vickers, Shuard and Thebom is available on Opera Depot.

Wonderful performance overall Peter pears great.

If you've only heard Pears' complete studio recording of this opera, you're missing something. Free from retakes and other studio pressures, Pears is more relaxed and conjures up a vision of an odd, yet determined man who gradually disintegrates into madness. His Act Three mad scene is almost frightening, yet there is something poetic in Pears' interpretation that is missing in Jon Vickers' very different portrayal.The supporting cast is outstanding. Sylvia Fischer is captured in her late prime, the voice steady and beautiful and she makes a winning Ellen. Pease is a very believable Balstrode. Special mention should go to Jean Watson's Auntie and Raymond Nilsson's Bob Boles. A young Joan Carlyle is heard as one of the Nieces; she caps the Act Two women's quartet with a silvery high D- flat. Kubelik leads a dramatic and moving performance. The sound is excellent with only a few minor glitches. Fans of this opera or the singers will find this a worthy investment.

A starry cast leaded by the dedicatee of the main role, Peter Pears (Benjamin Britten's "muse"), arguably the best Peter Grimes, under Kubelik's perfect guidance... A must!

Seeming to harness the power of the ocean itself, Rafael Kubelik proves himself a surprisingly empathetic interpreter of Benjamin Britten's music. The cut and thrust of his reading pays special dividends in the opera's scenes of mob violence. The Covent Garden forces play and sing their hearts out. Peter Pears as a rough-and-tumble fisherman was always a bit of a stretch but he makes it here, singing and interpreting the role about as well as he ever did. Sylvia Fisher, more associated with Wagnerian repertory, sings pleasingly as Ellen Orford, the lyric bloom still on her voice, while James Pease is the quintessential Captain Balstrode. He and many of the large supporting cast would eventually find employment in these roles in the composer's own recording (Decca). John Lanigan's Rev. Adams seems to be doing a Pears impersonation but that is of small matter. There is some intermittent skipping on the CDs, hence the absence of a fifth star. But if you want a Grimes of which Britten would have approved, you won''t go wrong.