Customer Reviews

Benjamin Britten - The Turn of the Screw / Padmore · Milne · Wyn Davies · Montague · City of London Sinfonia · Hickox

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The strengths of this DVD are consistent and striking. This is Benjamin Britten's setting of the Henry James novella -- easily the most successful dramatization of the work. It is a chamber opera, with a modest orchestra of strings and winds. All the voices are high in tessitura (in contrast to Billy Budd and Peter Grimes, dominated by male voices). Each scene is set as a variation on a theme. These intimate, intense qualities really give the effect of turning the eponymous screw.

The dramatic themes suggested are quite taxing on audience and performers alike: spiritual molestation, protectiveness and its vulnerability to illusions, the endless terrors of guardianship, the power of absent or abstract forces, the dangers of denying childhood fancy, the nature of innocence. It is Schubert's song "Erlkönig" on an operatic scale.

In its cinematic presentation the DVD is beautifully, evocatively filmed. The scenery and sets are dank, yet rich in hue and texture. The performances as filmed alternate between lip-synched articulation of the text by the singers, and overdubbing of "thought" text. This technique strikes a good balance between inner and outer drama and gives dramatic vigor to scenes where the dialog is explicit.

Cinematic finesse would matter little without accomplished and convincing musical performances underlying it. On musical terms, this is a recording that is hard to top. Richard Hickox's conducting, and the orchestra's delivery, are incisive and insightful. The textures of the strings and winds are clear as a chapel bell throughout, making the score's complexity both accessible and meaningful. The blend of clarity and ominous atmosphere is utterly compelling. Musical cross-references and cross-currents are neatly revealed and fortify our grasp of the drama at every turn.

The cast all sing with beauty and admirable definition of vocal line and character. The high lines come off as tense, not screechy. The voices blend together and distinguish themselves effectively. The dialogues, as sung and acted, are gripping and immediate.

The relationships between the Governess and Mrs Grose, between the Governess and each child, and between the ghosts, are as vivid and realistic as can be. By contrast, the connections between the children and ghosts seem veiled. The ghosts come off as menacing and insidious, yes, but also as needy and vulnerable -- they are haggard and clearly deranged. Quint in particular is more commonly depicted as a suave influence -- here that element of seductive allure is pointedly not brought out, making his depravity all the starker. Padmore's Quint is a brute, as clearly described in the text. As the children shape their roles, this Miles clearly views Quint with more fear than fascination, while the Flora conveys toward Miss Jessel an air of tenderness.

To an extent the veiled quality of the interactions between ghosts and children has the effect of making the final two scenes less crushing. This may have something to do with Lisa Milne's vocal and physical heft -- she is the exorcist, and Quint doesn't stand a chance. There is a certain inevitability to the final scenes, even to Miles's death -- he was long ago "lost, lost."

Mark Padmore as Quint has real Pears-ian qualities, and his singing evokes the beauty of the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. Though Quint is portrayed as less suave, Padmore's melismas are suitably sinuous and creepy. Lisa Milne as the Governess strikes nary a false note, dramatically or musically. Her doubts, determination and foreboding are wonderfully set forth in the very first scene in the carriage. She owns the climactic moments: "Who is it, who, who?"; "See what I see, know what I know"; "They are lost, lost"; her reprise of "Malo malo malo" -- all are gripping. Diana Montague is superbly cast as Mrs Grose, a role that often falls to superannuated sopranos with wool in their throats. She is a fine actress, and the strength of her characterization enriches the entire web of relationships in this work. Her major scene -- "Is there no end to his evil ways" -- is a tour de force. Catrin Wyn Davies evokes the ravaged spirit of Miss Jessel with fevered but strong singing. And the children are not at all outclassed in their solo moments or in the numerous ensembles. Their portrayals are honest and affecting, with the creepiness of their situation never overdone.

One could quibble with this or that, but any lapses are evanescent. I will say that, knowing the work and its literary source well, I came away from this new recording with surprising new insights into the work. That is a credit to the success of the staging, the singing, and the overall direction. Bravo!

As the stage manager of the first production of this opera, and as a stage director who has directed it many times, I am very happy to say that I enjoyed this DVD enormously. Beautifully directed and photographed, very interestingly cast, musically impeccable, so well acted and never overstated. The interludes (which have so often given directors problems) were brilliantly handled with an imagination completely in key with the intentions of the composer and librettist and, of course, with Henry James, the author of the novella on which the opera is based.

Colin Graham

[I have little to add to Terry Serres' really quite beautifully written and considered review. Indeed, I suggest you read it first, before reading my comments.]

The main thing I want to add, aside from endorsing everything Serres has said, is to point out that TV director Katie Mitchell and her co-workers have made a rarely-used form of television opera production in that the opera is opened out as a movie would be -- that is, it is not confined to an opera stage, but rather is filmed in beautiful British surroundings using the actual singers who recorded the music. What is striking is that at times the singers are seen actually singing their parts but at other times they are filmed as actors with, often, interior monologs being sung by them on the accompanying soundtrack. This is done so seamlessly that it took me a while to realize what the director had done.

Further, the singers are particularly visually apt for their parts. Mark Padmore, aside from being a marvelous singer, becomes the embodiment of the eerie Quint. Lisa Milne looks and acts the part of the innocent but plucky young governess, and she sings beautifully. Diana Montague, in a former time a leading lady of opera -- I still remember her stunning Iphigenia in Gluck's 'Iphigénie in Tauride' -- is simply unbeatable as Mrs. Grose. The two children, Miles and Flora, are convincingly played and sung by Nicholas Kirby Johnson and Keturah Day. Catrin Wyn Davies makes an effective Miss Jessel.

Musically the direction of Richard Hickox, leading the City of London Sinfonia, cannot be bettered. This is a psychologically deft performance.

This is easily one of the best opera DVDs ever made. I had earlier praised (and still like) the staged version from the Schwetzingen Festival, but this one is dramatically much more effective.

Scott Morrison

Highest praise for Katie Mitchell's extraordinary cinematic version of this difficult opera. At last, I've found a production that fully opens Britten's work to me...haunting, atmospheric, beautifully filmed and musically involving. Conductor Richard Hickox leads a revelatory performance with a cast that's sung and acted admirably. Highly recommended.

The opera is based on Henry James' novella about a governess who reports seeing two ghosts at the home she works. One of the central characteristics of the novella is that the narrator, who is the governess, is unreliable, and one wonders whether she's really seeing ghosts or if there's something else going on. The problem with doing the story as an opera is that the actions aren't filtered through the lenses of the governess; everything happens before the audience. And so in Britten's opera it's taken for granted that the ghosts exist -- and thus there isn't the kind of tension built on ambiguity that one finds in the novella.

However, the music, which was by far the best part of the whole production, makes up for any loss of tension. Britten has a peculiar way of writing music for the voice which always makes it sound awkward and strained; be that as it may, the music was always strangely engrossing. And the actors and orchestra all performed really well. I was somewhat less impressed by the visuals. The cinematography was clear and richly colored, but I was annoyed by how the film frequently cut back to flashbacks during crucial moments in the opera, when I thought it should have been focusing on the moment at hand; I wondered if they were constantly doing flashbacks because they were worried we'd get bored looking at the same thing. During these moments I imagined how I would've done things differently had I directed the film.

Britten's own recording of this opera was one of my earliest opera purchases, and I have seen two staged productions as well as another video version. One thing that struck me, comparing the two stage versions and Britten's own, was how extremely different the interpretations were, yet all so apt. Britten tends to downplay both his lyricism and his effects, and I found (find) his interpretation beautiful and effective in an austere, interior sense. Christopher Keene played it for lyricism and chromatic beauty. Hugh Keelan (conducting a production of the Chamber Opera Theatre of New York) brought out the sort of creepy horror I'd always missed in the opera, no matter how much I loved it. Hickox seems to top them all with textures breath-taking for being both luxurious and bone-chilling. He brought similar luxury to his CD of Peter Grimes, but here he never slights the drama and he shapes everything (except, perhaps, the piano scene) superbly.

The performers are all top-notch in voice and acting. Unlike the other reviewers here, I'd like to single out Catrin Wyn Davies' Miss Jessel, which is sumptuously sung and acted with hair-raising passion. The duo between Quint and Jessel is an oddity that sometimes doesn't work; here both the singers and the director turn it into a highpoint.

I have less praise for the director. The alternation between "sung" singing and mental monologues is irregular and sometimes peculiar, with one singer not-mouthing the words while the other, in the same room and scene, mouths the responses. Cuts to pacing in the woods also seem unnecessary. Still, she scores many good points, and keeps up the mood.

Because of the iffy direction I would probably never purchase the DVD. But I'd love to have it on CDs!

Dramatizing a quintessentially literary ghost story for film is not easy, in fact, it is pretty well doomed to partial failure for those who have grown up with the Henry James masterpiece in print and in several movies that have based themselves upon it.
This is quite successful in showing Brittan's music to good effect. I found it interesting, entertaining, well-sung well-acted, well-directed; however, I found it much too prosaic and realistic to evoke the air of mystery, of the unknown and unknowable, that an effective ghost story should possess.
I have not seen any of the other versions available on DVD, but would guess that the average viewer cannot go wrong watching this if his objective is seeing Benjamin Brittan's opera rather than Henry Jame's
story.

My major is English Literature and i studied this opera intensively, it was a thrill to see it in high class movie while keeping its originality as a theatrical Opera.. I really enjoyed it.