Britten - Peter Grimes / Davis, Vickers, Harper, Bailey, Royal Opera Covent Garden

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary theater!
Review: I find it amazing that no one has bought this dvd or just hasn't taken the time to share comments on the performance. The staging is austere but very effective. The singing is excellent right down to the smallest rolls. And Vickers owns the role of Peter Grimes probably for ever. Granted his voice is not to everyone's taste but we can say this about any major singer. Colin Davis does great by the orchestra and everyone is in stride with the drama of the piece. I hoped this doens't become an underated and under appreciated performance. It deserves much more. This dvd belongs in every one's collection even if they don't like mid twentieth century opera. This is a classic!

Rating:
Summary: Peter Grimes
Review: I was incredibly moved by this DVD. Peter Grimes is a masterpiece, one of the all time great operas. Britten's music has the dark orchestration of Verdi, the lushness of Puccini, but he brings it all together into his own unique and thoroughly modern sound. John Vickers is sometimes painful to watch, so deeply does he invoke the tormented soul-searching of the title character. Perhaps no opera since Otello(with the exception perhaps of Strauss' Elektra and Berg's Wozzeck) has captured alienation so well, but Peter Grimes is even more alone than Verdi's title character. Like Otello, as well as Elektra and Wozzeck, Grimes is unsympathetic in a lot of ways, but that's what makes him human, and we feel for him just the same. This production is just exquisite.

Rating:
Summary: Difficult but beautiful
Review: The contrast between the lyrical and beautiful music and the difficult anti-hero, Peter Grimes, is stunning. Vickers is perfect as the pathetic and frightening Grimes. Heather Harper is beautiful as the woman who tries to hold it together and fails.

The sets are simple, but effective. Every actor plays his or her part well; there are no weak links. While it is a story about Grimes, each of the minor characters is carefully deliniated and you feel as if you know the narrow and limited world of this small fishing village by the end of the opera. All the voices are perfect for the roles. It is difficult to imagine a finer production.