A new production of Peter Grimes opens at the ROH on 17 March and it’s to be streamed from early April to May. Deborah Warner is having another stab at directing Britten following Billy Budd of a few of years ago. Allan Clayton in the title role is a prospect to relish, and there is a strong supporting cast. Mark Elder is conducting. Plenty of tickets seem to be available for most performances. Anyone going?
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Nope! I'm in it! -
Excellent - fantastic news . Must say I looked at the ROH website and could only find tickets in the Amphitheater/ slips. In order to see you I shall have to splash out on the very few stalls tickets remaining. In fact for such a large scale opera they seem a bit of a bargain.Originally posted by Simon Biazeck View Post
I bet Alan Clayton is terrific …Comment
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I'm going on 29 March, and have friends going on other nights.
Really looking forward to it. As well as the more recent Billy Budd, Deborah Warner's production of Turn of the Screw at the Royal Opera (which I see was 20 years ago) was also very fine."I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square."
Lady Bracknell The importance of Being EarnestComment
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A colleague of mine is singing in it, and also sung in the recent Madrid production, with much the same cast - he's full of enthusiasm for Clayton's Peter. Looking forward to seeing it on the 29th.Comment
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You’ve got some lovely things to sing!Originally posted by Simon Biazeck View Post
He’s mad or drunk . . .Comment
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After seeing Grimes on the beach back in 2013 not sure I can adjust to seeing it on a stage again. Hope all goes well.Originally posted by Mandryka View PostComment
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The chance to sing in the chorus of Peter Grimes (non-professional production) lured me away from choral singing. It was a great experience, but I immediately recall the trouble I had getting secure with the rhythms of those exact words in the scene at the Boar Inn........Originally posted by Mandryka View Post
And yes, I'll be going to the ROH and am waiting to hear what Allan Clayton will make of it, even more so in the light of the comments here. I'm still regretful I passed on the beach production at Aldeburgh (although I went to the cinema showing as the best I could do by the time of the performances......).Comment
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Some background to the production in an article in today's Sunday Times.
As the article allows me to copy the link to it, I assume that I'm allowed to post that link.
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Some reviews of this ROH production:
1. David Nice, The Arts Desk: https://theartsdesk.com/opera/peter-...te-devastating
2. David Karlin, Bachtrack: https://bachtrack.com/review-peter-g...era-march-2022
3. Tim Ashley, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/...deborah-warner
There's also a Grauniad 'photo essay' that's well worth a read and a look:
The ROH posted an intro video, with Ian Skelly as moderator, talking with Allan Clayton, Bryn Terfel and SME (the last separately from AC and BT).
Curious not to read any first-hand reports just yet here, but maybe it needs a bit of time to settle.Comment
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For what it's worth, having been at the first night my personal reactions are:Originally posted by bluestateprommer View Post
You are unlikely to hear it sung, conducted or played with greater clarity or beauty. Greater visceral impact, perhaps, but only just. This applied across the board. The orchestral playing in particular was astonishing - so much was revealed that is usually subsumed beneath a more general sonic wash. I was very surprised upon checking to learn that Elder has never conducted it in the UK before. I was expecting to find that he'd done 1,379 previous performances at ENO to seemingly be able to reveal so much more than usual from the score. Maybe he has abroad?
On the production I think David Nice has it right. My simpleton's view is that the devastating impact that playing and singing at this level could be expected to have would have been fulfilled if the original setting had been stuck to more-or-less verbatim. There is nothing to really object to - it's not in the league of turning Meistersinger into an allegory on Bre*it
... However, my feeling was that nothing is gained by updating the scenario to the present day - it merely detracts by needlessly creating incongruities. Like all great operas, the key themes are universal. If you need telling that human nature is both complex and just as nasty as it was x00 years ago you've not been paying attention. Creating inexplicable anomalies like a modern-day fisherman unaccountably having an ?8 year old apprentice acquired from a "workhouse" or having John Tomlinson leaning on the seemingly obligatory ultra-wobbly sodium street lamp apparently borrowed from the set of Manon Lescaut/?Katya Kabanova/Cav & Pag is just distracting.
There are a couple of very specific miscalculations. Having Clayton sing the start of Great Bear and Pleiades with his back to the audience - just no. Does it make dramatic sense - yes. But still - no, just no. Also, giving ?Boles something akin to a mere orchestral side drum to whack whilst leading the mob off to Grimes' hut. No, it should be the full-size military marching drum usually employed - the scale and impact of the sound ought to put the fear of God into you, the smaller instrument won't cut it.
Other opinions are of course available, though these are mostly minor cavils. There are certainly impressive aspects too. The setting of the prologue as a fever-dream, a baying mob as terrifying as you could imagine, etc.
A much shorter summary would be: Musically 5*, overall impact diminished a little by the production.Comment
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Five stars from Richard Morrison in yesterday's Times:
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