or did I? At the least I got this director's (Neil Armfield) take on 'The Turn of the Screw' by Benjamin Britten.
It's my second view of this unusual opera, to say the least. My first one was :"Wait a minute what the heck is going on here?" and "I missed out on enjoying the music whilst too busy unravelling the plot-actually, WHAT plot?"
So, this HGO production did 2 things:
one, Armfield underplayed IMO the various hints on depravities, while emphasizing the spooky/ghostly aspect of the opera.
two: because I was a bit (little bit) familiar with the 'plot' I was able to concentrate more on the music - and - miracle of miracles actually enjoyed it, yes, enjoyed it. Amazing that such a small orchestra (ONLY 14 instruments) can sound so huge in such a big hall like the Brown Theater!
Yes, I have read, too, that Britten has based his work on the 12 tone scale, but, BIG BUT, what he did here sounded 90% of the times perfectly 'normal' ;-). And many times positively beautiful.. and so it should be. The sounds of celeste, glockenspiel, harp, etc. simply ask for that..reminiscent of Baroque music....no, it is NOT Baroque music. What it is, IS very ethereal at times. And when the sound begins to swell up out of the (open) pit it sure sounds as if coming from a much bigger orchestra.
Now to the voices, the crowd pleaser seemed to have been the boy soprano Michael Kepler Meosinging Miles, and here he discusses doing it for Opera Portland. Was he miked at HGO or not, I could not tell. Below a clip of Miles' famous aria MALO
After that, it was Tenor Andrew Kennedy, bewigged in fiery red for his role of QUINT, the villain of the piece (remembered fondly for his Capt. Vere of Britten's 'Billy Budd' at HGO earlier).. now what WAS Britten thinking to cast the villain as tenor? An interesting move IMO.
Tamara Wilson (of HGO Studio fame) was a spooky Miss Jessel suborning her considerable huge soprano into ghostly sounds. Amanda Roocroft was cast perfectly as the Governess, Judith Forst sang Mrs. Grose, the housekeeper (perhaps the most 'innocent' role of the piece) very well, and Joelle Harvey was the young Flora..all three making their HGO debuts and making them quite well.
I am not going to say much more-go see the piece and judge for yourself, except that the ending still left me somewhat hanging..Why? What? How?
About Me
- artandhockey
- Split personality. Liking the arts, especially opera, and hockey and Los Toros. I know, I know THAT one is non pc currently. But I can't help it saw some in Spain and got hooked, but good. But on the other hand right now opera and hockey are in the forefront!
2 comments:
I agree that this is a wonderful production! As to what Britten was thinking when he cast a tenor as villain, I'm betting it was along the lines of, "I'll write another terrific part for my pal Peter Pears and emphasize that wonderful floaty quality of his voice."
The ending leaves people hanging because the composer and librettist respected the original source material. As for me, what I heard in the music gave me an answer--but the next person might come up with a different, and equally valid, conclusion.
Am I the only one who thinks that Quint looked a little too much like Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka?
Can't say to Quint vs Wilder..never saw Willy Wonka. Anyone else saw that resemblance?
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