GLYNDEBOURNE DOWNLOAD: The Turn of the Screw.

[makropulos]

"Watch on demand from Monday".

Yes - that's just caught me out this evening post-Verdi. A chance to catch up with some other things and I'll get to Turn of the Screw tomorrow.

[Mary Chambers]

I was pretty impressed on the whole, though I have some quibbles. I'm not usually a fan of updating, but this worked for me. The fifties were every bit as repressed as I imagine the 19th century was, and many things went unspoken. I didn't much like the winter setting, particularly not in the scene with the birdsong, where the Governess sings 'How beautiful it is' - in this production mostly in a greenhouse. If ever music said 'summer', this does - early summer. The libretto stage directions have 'Evening. Sweet summer'.

The performances all round were excellent, though possibly Mrs Grose came across as a stronger character than Britten intended. Flora was marvellous - and if I hadn't know Joanna Songi was now in her twenties I don't think I'd have guessed. Miles very good, though the Opera North boy was better, but that really is a quibble. Fantastic performance from a twelve-year-old who has never acted before. Miah Persson an absolute star - couldn't fault her, and superb diction. Miss Jessel came over strongly. Not quite so sure about Toby Spence, who didn't sound quite seductive enough to me. The friend I went with, who had never seen the opera before, said she didn't find him at all frightening or sinister, and she was generally much less scared by the opera as a whole than she expected to be. I think this is something to do with the clean brightness of the set, and the lack of claustrophobia. At the end of Act 1 she said, 'Well. there's nothing ambiguous about THAT'. I had to explain that in the opera as written by Britten and Piper, there is no reference at all to a bathroom, and in fact that scene, 'At night', is specifically set in the garden, with Miles in his night clothes and Quint serenading him from the tower. The bath was purely the director's take on it.

Was it intentional, I wonder, that Miles and Quint had very similar features? It was quite noticeable.

I shall watch it all again online. There is always something new to discover in this opera, more questions to ask, however often you see it.

[makropulos]

Musically this certainly seemed very strong to me - Hruša conducted excitingly, and the cast was pretty outstanding. I'm extremely glad to have heard it. Miah Persson was absolutely magnificent, and she wasn't the only one. Bravo all round to the musicians.

But at the risk of being a lone voice here, I didn't find much to admire the production - in fact I quite disliked it. The updating seemed pointless - what did it achieve? - and the seasonal adjustment was incomprehensible - it seemed like just trying to be "different". In a way the whole thing worked (but it was carried along by the tremendously high musical values, so it could hardly have done otherwise) but Jonathan Kent's conception added nothing to my understanding of this great work, in a way that David McVicar's ENO production did, especially in the (superb) revival conducted by Charles Mackerras in 2009 - the most wrenching Turn of the Screw I've ever seen.

[Nick Armstrong]

Not quite so sure about Toby Spence, who didn't sound quite seductive enough to me. The friend I went with, who had never seen the opera before, said she didn't find him at all frightening or sinister, and she was generally much less scared by the opera as a whole than she expected to be. I think this is something to do with the clean brightness of the set, and the lack of claustrophobia. At the end of Act 1 she said, 'Well. there's nothing ambiguous about THAT'. I had to explain that in the opera as written by Britten and Piper, there is no reference at all to a bathroom, and in fact that scene, 'At night', is specifically set in the garden, with Miles in his night clothes and Quint serenading him from the tower. The bath was purely the director's take on it.

Interesting points, those, and I tend to agree. I liked the way Quint appeared in silhouette in the final scene - quite creepy... but in himself the characterisation of Quint did seem lacking in the sinister albeit very wel sung. And yes, the set lacked the darkness and claustrophobia that I imagine when listening to the score. (All these things were present in that ENO production in the ?late 80s, Langridge sinister and creepy à souhait...). The bathtime scene itself seemed an acceptable directorial intervention, as was the recent production (again ENO? I can't remember) where Quint was seen prowling around Miles in bed and peeling back his blankets, which seemed even more 'unambiguous' if anything...

[NickWraight]

In the theatre at Glyndebourne last night this performance came across stunningly well, quite the most clear and strong I've seen, with musical understanding of a high level - and yes the the old ENO/Miller production was also very fine. The ambiguous approach to the setting and realtionships for me opened up the work: who was attempting to seduce whom? The Governess's cuddling of Miles at his piano practice close to the end of the work was startling. The ghostly aspects of the Peter Quint and Miss Jessell characters were subtlely handled with the lake scenes for the latter and shadow play for the former the only really strong directorial pointers given.

The off centre revolves were a brilliant idea both in the practical angle of scene/prop changes but also in demonstrating the out of kilter, other worldly, quality.

[Sydney Grew]

It may be of interest to Members wishing to retain a permanent record of the event to learn that "Flash Video Downloader version 2.0.29" used as an "extension" of "Fire-fox" is capable of achieving what are really quite marvellously satisfactory results.

[makropulos]

It may be of interest to Members wishing to retain a permanent record of the event to learn that "Flash Video Downloader version 2.0.29" used as an "extension" of "Fire-fox" is capable of achieving what are really quite marvellously satisfactory results.

It is of great interest, Sydney! Thank you very much for the tip.

[Nick Armstrong]

It may be of interest to Members wishing to retain a permanent record of the event to learn that "Flash Video Downloader version 2.0.29" used as an "extension" of "Fire-fox" is capable of achieving what are really quite marvellously satisfactory results.

Sydney you



That works a treat!

Wonder what else it works for... iPlayer???

Anyway, thanks for posting that tip

[Sydney Grew]

In James's actual story we do not meet Miles until chapter three, on page 26. The letter from the school has already arrived in the previous chapter, and there is a great suspenseful build-up before his appearance. This all helps to position him as the central or pivotal figure of the story. And in addition to that, throughout the work a sharp distinction is drawn between the natures and motives of Miles and Flora.

I miss these elements in the libretto used by Britten. When the governess arrives the two children are already simply there, quite unmysterious and undistinguished.

And what is more, with all that guff about the "ceremony of innocence" at the start of the second act we are being diverted towards the altogether different subject matter of an altogether different author are not we.

[Chris Newman]

I have just caught up with TOTS and am very impressed: stunned in fact. I shall try to comment when I get my breath back.

[Mary Chambers]

In James's actual story we do not meet Miles until chapter three, on page 26. The letter from the school has already arrived in the previous chapter, and there is a great suspenseful build-up before his appearance. This all helps to position him as the central or pivotal figure of the story. And in addition to that, throughout the work a sharp distinction is drawn between the natures and motives of Miles and Flora.

I miss these elements in the libretto used by Britten. When the governess arrives the two children are already simply there, quite unmysterious and undistinguished.

And what is more, with all that guff about the "ceremony of innocence" at the start of the second act we are being diverted towards the altogether different subject matter of an altogether different author are not we.

I knew the opera before I read the novella, so to me it is the book that has things missing! I think you have to regard them as separate, though related, works of art, and judge each on its merits. I have no objection at all to the quotation from Yeats.

When I watched again online I noticed that not only did Miles resemble Quint, but when Flora lifted her head from the basin and her long black hair streamed over her face she looked very like Miss Jessel. This must have been intentional mirroring, I think.

I'm looking forward to hearing your impressions, Chris.

EDIT: I read an interesting comment online from Toby Spence. He said he had purposely made Quint a more sympathetic figure than usual, because 'when he was a boy at boarding school' he had found that the Quints of this world seemed quite normal and likeable at first. That was how they won the boys' confidence.

[Chris Newman]

Mary,
Your last message has answered several of the points I meant to make. The similarity between Quint and Miles and between Miss Jessel and Flora was too much to have been incidental. I had not seen or heard Toby Spence's observation about dangerous people but had thought that about his "normal" interpretation: indeed the only evil look I saw was at his curtain call. I also thought that with his use of his more steely Italianate voice than the English "weedling whine" of the likes Pears, Langridge and Bostridge he was going for the subtle groomer effect rather than the stage villain.

Susan Bickley's Mrs Grose was superb (the best I have ever known): yes, she seemed stronger than others, but why not. The characters are not set in stone, I hope.

The children were excellent. I did not know Flora was a mature young lady until one of you told me. Thomas Parfitt's Miles was the sort of boy every teacher dreads. I need to listen again but would I be right in thinking there was an extra female voice helping out in the nursery rhymes or was Joanna Songi having a bigger blast?

Miah Persson was the Governess we all dream of hearing. She had absolute clarity, the tone of voice we expect and the Britten sound we know from Joan Cross, Peter Pears and Heather Harper (did HH ever sing the Governess?) but she had that extra dramatic quality I have never known in the role. Lucky Glyndebourne Touring Opera to have got Jakub Hrůša. His was the best Turn of the Screw I have heard musically and that includes Charles Mackerras's and Stuart Bedford's. I have been impressed with his Don Giovanni and Jenůfa in Prague and have high expectations of him. An outsider for the BBCSO job maybe?

I thought that director Jonathan Kent made excellent use of the designs of Paul Brown and spooky lighting of Mark Henderson. The revolve within the revolve was disconcerting and applied at moments when we are not sure if it is ghosts or evil we are seeing. Even with the strongly portrayed Governess I came away doubting myself. Above all it was a production that glided seamlessly to its dreadful conclusion without a clunk on the way. The window frames often appeared to be like the bars of a cage entrapping the Governess and the other characters in their own thoughts (Or am I thinking too much of the ROH Don Carlo?). Interesting that the countryside and station on the background film of the train ride was of Glyndebourne and the aforementioned windows were from the Organ Room. It was also the first time that I noticed that the train journey music appears rhythmically and melodically to be a distorted clip from Smetana's "Sarka" in "Ma Vlast". You almost expect Sarka to sound her horn and wipe out all the men (No! Britten wouldn't be thinking.......My imagination is running away.)Maybe it was just the presence of Hrůša that made me spot it. Still, it is rather like Britten's borrowing from Boris Godounov in the Sabbath Morning in Peter Grimes.

There were a couple of clunks on the web-site. However I might ask my computer guru to fix me up with Fire Fox as recommended by Sydney Grew.

[Belgrove]

Having now had the opportunity to view this online, my estimation of the work and this revival production has increased. The standard of acting is very fine, the facial nuances being revealed to an extent that was not visible from my vantage point in the stalls.

The similarity between the children and the ghosts does not end there - the Governess has red hair too (Miah Persson is a striking blonde). She shows an affection for Miles from the outset that is not entirely professional.

This is more distinguished musically than Glyndebourne's recent CD release of the 2006 production (Joanna Songi being the only member featuring in both casts). The CD is nevertheless very fine and gains atmosphere through being a live recording. The near ideal acoustic of the theatre is well captured.

I understand that Opus Arte in co-operation with Glyndebourne will be releasing it on DVD in due course.

Glyndebourne have produced this season two of the finest productions I have ever seen in this and The Mastersingers. Let's hope this augers well for their new Cunning Little Vixen next year.

[Mary Chambers]

The Governess's hair looked dark, not red, in the cinema and on my PC, so I missed that, though I realise Miah Persson doesn't look remotely like herself.

Was Miles loud enough in the theatre? I gather from reviews that he has quite a small (though very beautiful) voice.

I'm delighted to hear there will be a DVD. It would be a terrible waste not to issue one.

[Belgrove]

Was Miles loud enough in the theatre? I gather from reviews that he has quite a small (though very beautiful) voice.

Thomas Parfitt who played Miles did have a small but beautiful voice. The volume was not a problem in the theatre because of the wonderful acoustic. Indeed one sensed that the audience concentrated all the more in order to catch his every word of the distilled libretto.