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

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

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.

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'sstory.

good price for a good opera

[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

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.

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!

Quelle déception ! Il y a pas mal de bonnes mises en scène de ce chef-d'oeuvre (mon préféré du compositeur, avec "Peter Grimes") notamment celle, sobre et efficace de Luc Bondy, ou la "mise en film" très impressionnante de Peter Weigl, très fidèle au climat de déviance sexuelle déjà présent dans la nouvelle de Henry James, et subtilement restitué par Britten - tous deux comme on sait homosexuels ( mais certes pas pédophiles). J'ai acheté cette version au vu du générique mentionnant la "télévision director" Katie Mitchell, grande scénographe d'"Alcina" de Haendel et de l'extraordinaire opéra contemporain de George Benjamin "Written on skin". Qu'a-t-elle ramé dans cette galère ? Je n'ai rien vu là que trahison, laideur et platitude ! Là où ne doivent régner que malaise, de l'inquiétude à l'épouvante, on ne trouve qu'une gouvernante dondon dodue et des enfants, comme elle, inexpressifs ; et des "fantômes" laids, sales et repoussants dont on ne peut comprendre l'ascendant exercé, dans une complicité sensuelle, sur les enfants...Passez muscade, les puritains sont là, censure ! Adieu fascination du Mal, adieu mystères ! Que reste-t-il de la beauté maléfique de l'oeuvre ? La musique ? Soit. Qu'on s'épargne le DVD !

Based on the novella by Henry James, another gay artist with an outsider's perceptive eye into the human condition, Benjamin Britten's opera was written in 1954, less than ten years after "Peter Grimes". With only six characters, Britten here seems to have taken to heart James's injunction to view mere character as plot, a line of thought whose logical conclusion would end in Britten's "Death in Venice" where one sole character ruminates on life's sadness and joys. But, in "The Turn of the Screw" there is still plenty of plot to fascinate the observer, despite the pared-down cast list.And it is not only the cast-list that is so small. It seems the older Britten became, the less melodic were his operas: you won't be humming tunes from "The Turn of the Screw" as you skip down the stairs. No, what replaces melody here is a vivid sense of a haunted and haunting atmosphere, into which this marvellous production draws you and holds you tight until the very end. Beautifully shot in a late autumn landscape of unkempt foliage, misty marshes and forlorn rooms, this is a film of the opera, not a staged production, and all the better for that.Quint (Mark Padmore) and Miss Jessel (Catrin Wyn Davies) are brilliantly evoked, the one barely seen with his guilty eye to camera, the other seen all too clearly, her tortured face and gaunt figure wonderfully portrayed in the autumnal half-light. The two children are good, but could have been better directed. But for me it is Diana Montague as Mrs Grose, and especially Lisa Milne as the Governess who do wonders for the viewer's nerves, chillingly conveying the sense of ominous mischief that is gradually revealed. Their singing is superb, some parts being clearly recorded but some being live to their place, for one can often here their echoes reverberate around the bare rooms, adding a foreboding realism to the scene. The City of London Sinfonia conducted by the ever-dependable Richard Hickox support.No gripes? Well, it is a shame that there are no extras. But, overall, a wonderful film that is true to the opera in every way: I'm sure Britten himself would have approved. Although you won't be humming his tunes, you will nevertheless feel that the experience has been worthwhile.