ENO Peter Grimes

[hmvman]

Did anyone else see the cinema transmission of this production yesterday? I thought it was excellent, with one or two minor reservations, and superbly sung. I've read that the production, set in the 1940s, has been controversial but it worked for me. I thought the filming on the whole was good but the picture quality wasn't as crisp as in other cinecasts I've seen. I really couldn't see the point of the on-stage camera though. Most of its shots were flooded out by the spotlights! Anyway, good that ENO are now doing this and I see that they're transmitting Benvenuto Cellini in June.

I saw Grimes at City Screen in York and I was pleased that it was well-attended - about three quarters full, which is good for a Britten screening in York!

[Mary Chambers]

It's certainly had rave reviews, but I suspect certain aspects of the production would irritate me a lot.. I haven't seen it, but am currently trying to persuade my son to go to the last night. He wants to, but is already going to Turandot that week, and out to dinner another night, and is worried he is neglecting his children by being out too much. I've told him it's a much more interesting opera than Turandot!

I wonder if there'll be a DVD? Not the same, of course, but better than nothing.

[amateur51]

I watched it at the Tricycle Cinema, part of an indie arts complex in Kilburn, NW London. It was about two-thirds full I'd say and it was a very attentive audience.
I thought it was a stunning production although I'm not convinced that Britten would have liked it. The orchestra and chorus were superb as were the principals. I couldn't see the point of filming from within the crowd but that's dierectors for you.

Afterwards it struck me that if I had never been to ENO or any other opera venue, the filing of the audience coming into the theatre would have convinced me that it was a welcoming place, a place I could go and enjoy the performance. I hope I'm right and that ENO & others will benefit financially from the exercise.

Stuart Skelton as grimes gave a staggering performance. He has a true heldentenor voice so not the sort of voice that Britten wrote for in Grimes but he kept it well reined in for the quieter moments and the mad scene was very well done.

[DublinJimbo]

I was anxious when I saw images of the set during the introductory segment, but I needn't have worried. Apart from the jarring dance scene at the beginning of Act III, I have nothing but praise.

As amateur51 says, principals, chorus and orchestra were superb, but what struck me most of all was the way in which the production made sense of so much which I'd missed in other performances I've seen. Acquaintances who were unfamiliar with the opera were at the same screening. They found the plot too dark, but I felt they'd been privileged to be introduced to Grimes by way of such a fine production.

Well done, ENO!

[Stanley Stewart]

I, too, would very much like to see a DVD of this production. Much impressed by Stuart Skelton in an impressive production which I recorded on its initial R3 broadcast a few years ago.

Sheer luck was in my favour when an email from a Scottish friend from our earlier R3 boards contacted me to tell me that he had DVD recorded the ENO 2013 revival of "Death in Venice" and was I interested?!! A consummation devoutly to be wished, particularly as there is still no sign of a theatrical release. Deborah Warner's incisive production once again convincing me that staging is also keeping pace with developments in what I can only call the plasticity of performance. Truly a combined chorus of individuals.

Used the Festive Season for repeated viewings and lots of background reading. I saw Peter Pears twice as Aschenbach at Covent Garden, my programme search shows the second visit on Wed, 5 April, 1978 with Steuart Bedford, ECO, at the helm. Christopher Headington's biography of PP clearly demonstrates why Pears was 'the personification of absolute perfection' in this role (thanks, Mr Wilde and his sense of Importance!). With the exception of seeing, say, Alec Guinness and Paul Scofield at work over many years, I can categorically say that I have never seen any actor with total command of the quality of stillness as Peter Pears. I was deeply moved and, indeed, inspired by his artistry. In later years, at the Wigmore Hall, PP came on stage for an unaccompanied encore, 'I wonder as I wander' and the same serenity unfolded. Almost defies description.

In turn, I was also deeply impressed by John Graham-Hall at the ENO, although nagged by a sense of uncertainty over the shaping of his performance. After several viewings, I detected a technical flaw in that his driven anxiety led him to peak too soon. I'm sure that JG-H will return to the role of Aschenbach several times in his career and, rightly, reflect on his concept of the role. I may be quite wrong in my analysis but would be keen to see any revision.

A word of praise, too, for the admin staff at ENO. I went from pillar to post trying to acquire a programme for the 2013 revival but they no longer have a bookshop and the programme - from last June - no longer in stock. However, a few days later, a young man phoned to tell me he had located a copy and it is a splendid 66 page souvenir with a lavish illustrated synopsis and notes.

Off-thread and nor', nor' west, again! Apologies!

[rauschwerk]

I thought it a really excellent performance, though having the same reservations as others about the staging of the Act 3 dance. I was disappointed in the sound quality. Why were the voices so loud in relation to the orchestra? Why so much dynamic range compression? Why was the whole thing so loud? (I suppose the last factor was under the control of the local technician).

Disappointingly small audience. It was being shown in two cinemas in Ipswich and therefore I was able to avoid Cineworld - no bad thing.

[hmvman]

I thought it a really excellent performance, though having the same reservations as others about the staging of the Act 3 dance. I was disappointed in the sound quality. Why were the voices so loud in relation to the orchestra? Why so much dynamic range compression? Why was the whole thing so loud? (I suppose the last factor was under the control of the local technician).

Disappointingly small audience. It was being shown in two cinemas in Ipswich and therefore I was able to avoid Cineworld - no bad thing.

It wasn't too loud at York and at times I wished it could've been a bit louder - particularly the orchestral sections.

The auditorium at City Screen was about three quarters full but it was the smallest of the three theatres in the cinema. Other opera transmissions at City Screen are usually sell-outs. I was very disappointed last year with the attendance at the Gloriana transmission and the Grimes on the Beach film.

[amateur51]

It wasn't too loud at York and at times I wished it could've been a bit louder - particularly the orchestral sections.
.

I agree

There's one thing that none of us has mentioned - the continuity person between Acts was CB-H :yikes; She was not on for long but it was a bit of a shock and of course the cinema floor was littered with superlatives

[Flosshilde]

the cinema floor was littered with superlatives

The audience enjoyed itself, then?

[Pulcinella]

Decent turn out at our new local Vue cinema complex, thankfully (my partner and I had been the only two at The Met's relay of The Nose!).

I thought that the singing was superb: best female quartet (From the gutter) I think I've ever heard.

Not as loud as Met transmissions (though agreed that might be local technician), and not as clear definition (and the shots into the audience didn't work for me!).

I found the end of Act 2, when Grimes crept back into his hut, carrying John's shattered body covered with blood, and then broke down into uncontrollable sobs, incredibly moving.

[hmvman]

I found the end of Act 2, when Grimes crept back into his hut, carrying John's shattered body covered with blood, and then broke down into uncontrollable sobs, incredibly moving.

I agree with you that it was a very moving moment. But it was one of the few things in the production I had reservations about because, for me, part of the point of the opera is that Grimes is an enigma. Is he a wicked character, so absorbed by his own ambitions that he mistreats his apprentices and abuses everyone around him, or is he a good character at heart but has violent outbursts through frustration at feeling a misunderstood outsider? I felt that by including this little scene at the end of Act 2 the director deliberately led us to the latter conclusion rather than leaving it open to personal judgement.

Anyway, it didn't detract from what I thought was an excellent production with, as you say, superb singing.

[bluestateprommer]

Standard thread hijack by BSP, but warranted in this instance, IMHO, as Bavarian Radio is presenting a relay of the Bavarian State Opera production of Peter Grimes tomorrow at 6 PM continental time, with the same conductor and PG as in the ENO production discussed on this thread:

https://www.br-klassik.de/aktuell/news-kritik/peter-grimes-britten-oper-meer-england-handlung-bayerische-staatsoper-premiere-100.html

https://www.staatsoper.de/stuecke/peter-grimes/2022-03-06-1800-12801

It's also notable how many UK singers got brought across the Channel for the production (Iain Paterson, Jennifer Johnston, Brindley Sherratt, Robert Murray), given all the new bureaucratic headaches that go with all that.

I'm a bit hazy as to whether the Bavarian State Opera is also offering this production in a live video stream also (*). Regardless, in case anyone here hadn't known about this production, thought it worth pointing out.

(*) See next post

[bluestateprommer]

Well, haziness is resolved on the BR Klassik link in the post just above, as BR Klassik does indeed have a video stream available. It's well worth a watch and listen, as it is still available and who knows how long the video will continue to be available. The sound isn't perhaps the most optimal (although one perhaps doesn't want the sound to be too good, because of potential video piracy concerns, maybe), so that, for example, the chorus as lynch mob in Act III doesn't raise the roof as sonically through computer speakers as it would live in the opera house. Also, I didn't see a button for subtitles, not that anyone here needs them, and I got along w/o them.

For those with long-ish Proms memories, it's notable that Claudia Mahnke is cast as Auntie, as CM sang the contralto part in Das Lied von der Erde at the 2019 Proms with Stuart Skelton and Edward Gardner. Presumably that performance made SS and EG remember her when it came to casting this Peter Grimes. And speaking of the lynch mob in Act III, while I noted the Nieces among the mob, if I haven't totally lost what little eyesight that I have left, I thought that Stefan Herheim kept Auntie out of the mob. Herheim also does some tiny bits of stage business in Act II in delineating the relationship of Mrs. Sedley to the rest of the women in the community, with one particular moment between Ellen Orford and Mrs. Sedley. This is important to keep in mind for the opera's closing scene, along with another bit of stage business via the Rev. Horace Adams during the same Act III lynch mob scene that also pays off literally at the very end of the opera.

Also, be warned (mild endurance spoiler alert) that Act III follows directly on Act II, with just the slightest of pauses, so that the production has only one interval. Of course, the BR Klassik announcers hold forth in German (well, duh), but they make an exception for Edward Gardner (w/o German subtitles, interestingly enough, but the presumption is that the German demographic who cares about opera is very likely to speak English anyway), as Maximillian Maier is fluent in English and interviews EG accordingly. Rachel Willis-Sorensen, the one American (that I'm aware of) in the cast, is very fluent in German, so that she can do the interview chat with MM in German (but she does get in one sentence in English). Pre-recorded video commentary from Stuart Skelton overdubs a German translation of his comments, so one (well, I) couldn't gauge his comments clearly, except an isolated phrase w/o the overdub.