Britten: Peter Grimes
by Joan Cross, Benjamin Britten
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bryan Drake, Elizabeth Bainbridge, Heather Harper, Owen Brannigan, Peter PearsDirector: Benjamin Britten, Joan Cross
Brand: AOC
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); German (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Classical, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-07-08
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Decca Records
Movie Reviews of Britten: Peter Grimes
Movie Review: A Must!
Summary: 5 Stars
This television performance of Peter Grimes is the most dramatically intense of all the Grimes's I've seen; and Peter Pears, who quit singing the role after this production, was at his vocal and interpretive peak. We can only surmise that he stopped singing the role because he somehow realized that he could never better himself in this. It was Pears for whom this opera was written, and his unique voice has the perfect eerie plaintiveness for the pathetic and enigmatic Grimes. This is one of the most nuanced and intelligent operatic performances I have ever seen. Heather Harper also brought her considerable best musical and dramatic skills to this enterprise.
I rarely enjoy historic performances in monophonic sound (much to my own detriment, I admit), but this is an exception: the quality and passion of the performance definitely conquer all. (You may find, as I did, that the alternate soundtrack in "enhanced" Dolby Digital mono, mitigates the flatness of the pure monophonic sound of the main soundtrack.) Otherwise, the audio is quite good, well balanced with rich bass, and only very slightly constricted and metallic in the high frequencies during the loudest parts - so nearly irrelevant that I hesitate to mention it.
Summary of Britten: Peter Grimes
The first audio-visual recording of this essential opera, conducted by the composer. The only version to star Peter Pears, who originated the title role. Directed by Joan Cross, who originated the role of Ellen Orford.This 1969 BBC production is about as close as we can get to a definitive version of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes, one of the greatest 20th Century operas. The story of the individualistic fisherman hounded by his neighbors who believe he murdered his young apprentice packs tremendous emotional power. The compelling narrative is richly enhanced by its subtexts: the lone outsider versus the conformist mob; the dreamer of improbable dreams that lead to tragedy; the artist (dreamer) versus the Philistines, and the homosexual overtones of Grimes' abuse of his child apprentices. Britten is conductor of his work and tenor Peter Pears is Grimes, 25 years after he created the title role at the opera's premiere. Britten was a great conductor as his recordings of his own and others' music attests, and here he outdoes himself with a performance that captures both the brooding darkness of the work and its visceral power. Pears at first seems a bit old for the part and his throaty voice no match for the overwhelming Grimes of Jon Vickers in a later Covent Garden production with Colin Davis conducting. But if Pears hasn't the protean force of Vickers, he was there at the creation of the part, knows its every nuance and shading, and is totally convincing as an actor as well--proud, aloof, yet vulnerable. As the widow Ellen Orford, soprano Heather Harper is magnificent. Singing with tonal beauty and acting the role of the sensitive, morally sturdy woman who loves Grimes when all hate him, she is so convincing that when the out-of-control Grimes slaps her, you feel assaulted yourself. The supporting cast is excellent too, headed by baritone Bryon Drake as the dignified, sensible Balstrode, the retired sea captain. David Myerscough-Jones' production design, on a cramped, makeshift stage at Britten's Snape Maltings concert hall, with the London Symphony on an off-camera rear platform, works better than it should. The staging is by Joan Cross, who sang Ellen in the opera's premiere. Movements of the chorus and soloists are economical but realistic, the settings appropriate, the costumes wisely helping to set the action in the early 19th century. Best of all, the sea is an ever-present actor here. When we don't see it in the background it exerts its presence in the abundant visual references to nets, barrels, and other paraphernalia of a seaside fishing village. The wonderful Interludes Britten composed for the opera are illustrated with abstract images of shifting colors that mimic the movements of sea and clouds, as well as the orchestral colors being played--thus yellows dominate when the trumpets do, darker colors when the lower strings are in the ascendant. Brian Large's direction for TV is first-rate, with closeups that enhance the intimacy of the work. The end result is an unforgettable version of a work that leaves you emotionally drained and musically elevated. --Dan Davis
Peter Grimes is an all-regions color disc in 4:3 ratio. Sound options include LPCM monophonic and Enhanced Dolby mono. Sung in English, subtitles are available in English French, German and Spanish.
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