Britten: Peter Grimes (London, 1994)

Cast: Philip Langridge (Peter Grimes), Janice Cairns (Ellen Orford), Alan Opie (Captain Balstrode), Ann Howard (Auntie), Andrew Greenan (Swallow), Robert Poulton (Ned Keene), Alan Woodrow (Bob Boles), Susan Orton (Mrs. Sedley); ENO Orchestra and Chorus, David Atherton (conductor), Tim Albery (director), Barrie Gavin (video director)

Recorded by BBC in 1994

Issued on DVD by Arthaus in 2003 [100 382, PAL / regions 2-8, menus and subtitles in English, German, French, Spanish]

Technical Details:
Picture Format: 16:9
Sound Format: PCM Stereo

Running time: 144 minutes

Sung in English
Here is a third approach to Peter Grimes, as different from that of Peter Pears (on audio and non-commercial video from BBC) as from that of Jon Vickers at the Royal Opera. Langridge conveys a continuing madness enlivened by flashes of lucidity where Pears is an Everyman hounded to madness and Vickers a force of nature who may be sane in a mad society. This is a frenetic performance, brilliantly staged with a tellingly abstracted realism. Grimes' foil is the townfolk, a single voice with many components. Cairns provides a mature, stable Ellen more accepting of Peter than attracted to him. Opie makes of Balstrode something of a Greek chorus, observing and connecting the parties but not able to interpret since the score does not permit it.

Atherton leads a solid performance with a capable orchestra and chorus, but the effect is to leave Langridge as a solo voice against the storms of man and nature. The outcome is inevitable and accepted without excess, yet that very continuity, reflected in the nearly uniform dynamic, drains the viewer before the climax. One looks in vain for the building and relaxing of tension which the opera can convey. Even so, it is a performance worth seeing and hard to forget.
 
Related website:
Arthaus Musik www.arthaus-musik.de
 
Michael Richter, 27 March 2004
mrichter@cpl.net
 
See also Michael Richter's Introduction to the DVD, for a list of other reviews see the DVD Project page.