Britten: The Turn of the Screw

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Britten's opera makes its usual harrowing impact...Broderick's darker-toned Miss Jessel contrasts well with [Matthews]...while Catherine Wyn-Rogers's Mrs Grose is faultlessly secure and vivid.... — BBC Music Magazine, February 2014, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 25th Nov 2013
Catalogue No: LSO0749
Label: LSO Live
Length: 1 hour 50 minutes

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Britten: The Turn of the Screw

Work length1:50:19

$34.20

$42.75

$49.65

Lucy Hall, Andrew Kennedy, Sally Matthews, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Michael Clayton-Jolly, Katherine Broderick
London Symphony Orchestra
Richard Farnes

Prologue

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Theme

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Act I, Scene 1: "The Journey"

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Act I: Variation I

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Act I, Scene 2: "The Welcome"

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Act I: Variation II

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Act I, Scene 3: "The Letter"

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Act I: Variation III

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Act I, Scene 4: "The Tower"

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Act I: Variation IV

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Act I, Scene 5: "The Window"

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Act I: "Variation V"

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Act I, Scene 6: "The Lesson"

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Act I: Variation VI

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Act I, Scene 7: "The Lake"

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Act I: Variation VII

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Act I, Scene 8: "At Night"

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Act II: Variation VIII

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Act II, Scene 1: "Colloquy and Soliloquy"

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Act II: Variation IX

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Act II, Scene 2: "The Bells"

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Act II: Variation X

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Act II, Scene 3: "Miss Jessel"

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Act II: Variation XI

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Act II, Scene 4: "The Bedroom"

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Act II: Variation XII

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Act II, Scene 5: Quint

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Act II: Variation XIII

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Act II, Scene 6: "The Piano"

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Act II: Variation XIV

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Act II, Scene 7: "Flora"

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Act II: Variation XV

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Act II, Scene 8: "Miles"

Track length11:50

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About
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About

Released in the Britten anniversary year, Richard Farnes, the Music Director of Opera North who led their critically acclaimed production of 'The Turn of the Screw' in 2010, conducts an all-English cast in Britten’s most ingeniously crafted opera, including Andrew Kennedy, Sally Matthews, and 11-year old Michael Clayton-Jolly in the role of Miles.

Originally scheduled to be conducted by Sir Colin Davis, Richard Farnes was the natural replacement, himself having been mentored by the late conductor.

In 1932, the 18-year-old Britten heard on the radio ‘a wonderful, impressive but terribly eerie and scary play 'The Turn of the Screw' by Henry James.’ Britten’s version of the ghost story, premiered in 1954, is a chamber opera in a prologue and two acts. The opera tells the story of a Governess and a housekeeper, Mrs Grose, who vow to protect two children, Miles and Flora, from the strange happenings that occur in the grounds of their English country house.

Reviews

February 2014

Britten's opera makes its usual harrowing impact...Broderick's darker-toned Miss Jessel contrasts well with [Matthews]...while Catherine Wyn-Rogers's Mrs Grose is faultlessly secure and vivid. Richard Farnes's conducting unfolds the opera at a quite expansive pace with no loss of tensions, although he allows some over-sumptuous moments

Diapason

A tribute worthy of Sir Colin and a new milestone in the discography.

March 2014

there is much to admire, especially in the virtuoso playing of the LSO musicians, but the drama seems underplayed...Still, this is a good cast in an opera that rarely gets a poor performance...Kennedy is an expressive Quint, especially imaginative in the Prologue

February 2014

It's Andrew Kennedy as the ghost Peter Quint who impresses most...He's a worldly Quint...one whose voice naturally embodies all the necessary qualities to dramatize the childlike appeal of Quint's high-flown poetic language...As the hapless ex-governess Miss Jessel, Katherine Broderick brings a pleasing edge to the part.

7th February 2014

The orchestral performance under Richard Farnes is everything it should be, and indeed as a representation of this chilling score this is a very good performance indeed. That said, it does lack the sheer sense of discovery and horrified engagement that was present in the original Decca recording.

12th January 2014

this vibrant, spine-tingling take on Britten’s Henry James opera owes its success to the late conductor’s replacement [Richard Farnes]. This was his first encounter with the LSO, whose soloists here...are the stars.

Opera Now

There are two main glories to the performance: the first is Richard Farnes’s conducting of the LSO, which is taut and controlled but evolves at a natural pace....The second is Sally Matthews’ Governess; this is a voice with infinite colours and the soprano knows how to maximise her gift.

Classical Music

Farnes directs a taut, crisply-detailed account of Britten’s masterpiece. His cast is perfect: Kennedy a slyly seductive Quint; Matthews spot on in conveying the Governess’s growing horror and resolve; as telling a Flora and Miles as any on disc. Excellent Barbican sound.

Classical Review

[Farnes] directs a detailed and well-paced performance in which the collective and individual playing of his chamber orchestra...could hardly be bettered...Listeners (and viewers) are almost spoilt for choice with the many very fine recordings of this opera...but this new one definitely deserves inclusion amongst the best of them

Offer,Britten: The Turn of the Screw

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