Britten the Turn of the Screw Bedfore Naxoa Reviews

DVD Review

Opera is meant to exist seen as well equally heard, of course, but that hasn't kept people from enjoying it in audio-simply formats for more a hundred years. Still, in that location are some operas that seem to work but when one tin run into them. For me, Britten's The Plough of the Screw, a work I in one case respected but didn't beloved, is such an opera. If yous know this opera, simply oasis't quite been able to warm to it, I recommend this DVD highly as an example of how, just like the cliché, "seeing is believing."

This product was filmed in 1990 at the Schwetzinger Festival. The instrumental ensemble is High german, just the conductor (a Britten specialist for decades now) and all of the singers but one were born in an English-speaking country, which plainly helps the intelligibility of Myfanwy Piper'southward libretto. (Nevertheless, you might want to use the English language subtitles, although they curiously don't always friction match what is being sung.)

Britten'southward opera, based on a novella by Henry James, is almost an idealistic but emotionally unstable governess sent to care for two children, Flora and Miles, at an English language estate. At first she is charmed by them, and comforted by the companionability of the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. Soon, however, ominous things begin to happen, and the governess (who remains unnamed throughout) encounters what seem to exist the ghosts of a Mrs. Jessel, the former governess, and a Peter Quint, the former principal's valet. There is a hint that something unsavory happened between the children and these domestics, and that this unsavory something is continuing fifty-fifty after Quint's and Mrs. Jessel's death. The governess resolves to salvage the children. Mrs. Grose and Flora eventually escape, only what or who they escape is not quite clear. The governess and Miles stay behind. Just as Miles appears about to reveal the truth to the governess, Quint reappears one concluding time, and, after a struggle for Miles'due south soul, the male child falls dead in the arms of the governess. Much has been fabricated of the story's subjectivity – were the ghosts e'er really there? is the supernatural chemical element entirely the governess' imagination? – only if one accepts a Freudian interpretation, and so several questionable details remain unanswered. It is plenty, perhaps, to construe The Turn of the Screw as an cryptic ghost story wrapped around incidents of possible child corruption, and to leave it at that.

This handsome product is merely about ideal. The sets are uncomplicated but atmospheric. The dominant note is sounded by a sepia-toned lake, a backlit backdrop from which Mrs. Jessel frighteningly emerges. The singers are physically convincing and vocally secure. Equally the governess, soprano Helen Field is pretty and vulnerable, and her vocalism soars in anguish equally the screw turns ever more tightly. Menai Davies'southward sympathetic Mrs. Grose is the vocalisation of normalcy in these foreign goings-on. Peter Quint is played with cool charm by tenor Richard Greager, and with a wink and a nod to Peter Pears, who created the role. Phyllis Cannan is a terrifying Mrs. Jessel, both physically and vocally. (I guess one could argue that it's hard to imagine her as a prim governess in life.) Perchance most impressive of all is lilliputian Samuel Linay every bit Miles. He has the voice and the face of an angel – albeit a very serious one! – and he treads the stage similar a seasoned professional. The simply faux note is sounded by Machiko Obata's Flora. Actually, in that location'due south aught wrong with her acting or with her singing, only it makes lilliputian sense to bandage an adult singer as Flora. If one can detect a Samuel Linay, can't one find his female equivalent? As Flora is supposed to be his younger sister, it strains credibility when she is almost as tall every bit the governess.

The pic format is four:3, and in spite of the preponderance of night scenes, this DVD looks practiced. The sound (PCM stereo) is good too, but it lacks brilliance. Twice during the opera, ghostly voices make a faint intrusion into the soundtrack. It sounds similar interference from a nearby radio station, but it is more likely to be the effect of a "leaky" mike among the production crew. It's annoying. Fortunately, each intrusion is cursory.

There are two special features, albeit of negligible value. One, a six-minute "Introduction to the Opera," is simply a spoken plot synopsis over stills. The other is a trailer for other Arthaus titles.

Minor reservations bated, this is a fine production of The Plough of the Screw. I empathize that Arthaus Musik has a Peter Grimes from the English language National Opera on its way!

Copyright © 2003, Raymond Tuttle

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Source: http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/a/arh00198dvdb.php

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