New Elizabethans: Benjamin Britten.

[Mary Chambers]

Thank you, Tevot. I knew about the film, but I didn't realise the Britten 100 website was up yet. Lots of performances!

[JimD]

All the same, I thought it a lot better, certainly visually, than the ENO (?) production with Robert Tear, also on DVD.

Hello Mary. I think it's Glyndebourne: what is about the visuals you disliked?

There is I believe a production at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice conducted by Bruno Bartoletti available on DVD but I haven't seen it. It is present but not rentable on Lovefilm.

[Panjandrum]

It's a long time since I saw it, but I don't remember finding the location intrusive, though I'd probably have been just as happy with the John Piper designs. I think I probably saw it before I saw the Dirk Bogarde film - I've never been much of a film-goer. There's an unintentionally hilarious review on Amazon.com (the American Amazon) complaining that the opera film isn't a bit like the 'original Death in Venice', by which the writer appears to mean the Visconti film rather than Mann's novella!

That reminds me of the anecdote Dirk Bogarde told of when the Warner Bros bosses, at a private showing, asked Visconti who had composed the music. When Visconti curtly responded, "it's Mahler", one of the suits said, "Hey; we gotta sign him up."

[Mary Chambers]

Hello Mary. I think it's Glyndebourne: what is about the visuals you disliked?

I think you're right! I didn't exactly dislike it, but I found it a little dull. Visually, I liked Deborah Warner's production which I saw at the Coliseum some time ago, though I had reservations about Bostridge (acting, not singing). I also saw Anthony Rolfe Johnson's Aschenbach in the 80s, and one of the most memorable performances was a concert performance with Philip Langridge.

[ardcarp]

Totally off-topic....but did anyone hear Britten's concerto for violin and viola this afternoon on 3 ? He wrote it aged 18 and it is a brilliant sometimes exhilarating piece, showing total mastery of the instruments and of the orchestra.