Browse: DVD Video, Britten (composer)
Britten: Billy Budd
Jacques Imbrailo (Billy Budd), Toby Spence (Vere), Brindley Sherratt (Claggart), Thomas Oliemans (Redburn), David Soar (Flint), Torben Jürgens (Ratcliffe), Clive Bayley (Dansker), Duncan Rock (Donald), Francisco Vas (Squeak), Christopher Gillet (Red Whiskers), Sam Furness (Novice), Borja Quiza (Novice's...
The strength of the production is its universality…The acting works so well in close-up that it is possible to follow this performance almost like a film…[Imbrailo’s] warm, unforced singing is... — More…
Awards:
Britten: The Rape of Lucretia
Recommended
Christine Rice (Lucretia), Allan Clayton (Male Chorus), Kate Royal (Female Chorus), Duncan Rock (Tarquinius), Matthew Rose (Collatinus), Michael Sumuel (Junius), Catherine Wyn-Rogers (Bianca) & Louise Alder (Lucia)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Leo Hussain (conductor) & Fiona Shaw...
The production, set during an archaeological excavation, packs a punch — More…
Awards:
New, Offer, Britten: Death in Venice
John Daszak (Aschenbach), Anthony Roth Costanzo (Apollo), Leigh Melrose (Traveller), Duncan Rock (English Clerk/Guide), Tomasz Borczyk (Tadzio)
Teatro Real Chorus and Orchestra, Alejo Pérez, Willy Decker
The staging is intelligent, spare, rather dark…for the most part Decker’s imagery is focused on probing symbolic figures of death and sexuality…[he] does break new ground in how far he is ready... — More…
Britten: Peter Grimes
Jon Vickers (Peter Grimes), Heather Harper (Ellen Orford), Norman Bailey (Balstrode), Elizabeth Bainbridge (Auntie), John Dobson (Bob Boles), Forbes Robinson (Swallow), Patricia Payne (Mrs Sedley), Phillip Gelling (Ned Keene), John Lanigan (Horace Adams), John Tomlinson (Hobson), Marilyn Hill Smith...
Colin Davis...proves an inspired interpreter, taut in control as well as warmly expressive, drawing vividly atmospheric playing from the orchestra to supplement the brilliantly effective sets,... — More…
Offer, Teodor Currentzis conducts The Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Steven Isserlis (cello)
Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Teodor Currentzis
Britten: Billy Budd
Recommended
John Mark Ainsley (Captain Vere), Jacques Imbrailo (Billy Budd), Phillip Ens (Claggart), Iain Paterson (Mr Redburn), Matthew Rose (Mr Flint), Darren Jeffery (Lieutenant Ratcliffe), Alasdair Elliott (Red Whiskers), John Moore (Donald), Jeremy White (Dansker), Ben Johnson (Novice), Colin Judson (Squeak)...
[Elder paces] the developing tragedy with airily lyrical detail and brooding, ominous power. John Mark Ainsley' s plangent, dark-toned tenor and intense diction show us a more neurotic Vere than... — More…
Awards:
Britten: Death in Venice
Recommended
John Graham-Hall (Gustav von Aschenbach), Andrew Shore (Traveller/Elderly Fop/Gondolier/Barber/ Hotel Manager Player/Dionysus), Tim Mead (Apollo), Sam Zaldivar (Tadzio), Laura Caldow (The Polish Mother), Mia Angelina Mather/Xhuliana Shehu (Her Two Daughters), Joyce Henderson (The Governess), Marcio...
It's not often one can say a production is improved by viewing on a small screen but, for me, this one was...Graham-Hall is a real stage-animal, convincing us utterly of his descent into obsession...Above... — More…
Awards:
Offer, Britten: The Complete String Quartets
Belcea Quartet
While one might miss the pristine finesse of their previous set, this timbrally grainier recording offers an altogether grander, wilder conception, and an opportunity to watch the intense exchange... — More…
Awards:
Britten: The Turn of the Screw
Mark Padmore (Prologue/Quint), Lisa Milne (Governess), Catrin Wyn Davies (Miss Jessel), Diana Montague (Mrs Grose), Nicholas Kirby Johnson (Miles), Caroline Wise (Flora)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Richard Hickox
Katie Mitchell directs very much in the BBC classic manner… Bly's grand but bleak interiors and iron-grey woodlands splendidly atmospheric. Hickox and his exceptional cast capture beautifully... — More…
Awards:
Maxim Vengerov - Britten: Violin Concerto
Maxim Vengerov (coach)