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Special offer. Britten: Peter Grimes
on Aldeburgh beach. Filmed at the Aldeburgh Festival, June 2013
Alan Oke (Grimes), Giselle Allen (Ellen), David Kempster (Balstrode), Gaynor Keeble (Auntie), Robert Murray (Bob Boles), Catherine Wyn-Rogers (Mrs Sedley), Charles Rice (Ned Keene); Britten–Pears Orchestra, Steuart Bedford, Tim Albery (dir.)
In almost all respects the technical side of the operation is a near triumph. Having the singers perform live...to the accompaniment of a pre-recorded orchestra was a gamble but it has paid...
Special offer. Britten: Peter Grimes
on Aldeburgh beach. Filmed at the Aldeburgh Festival, June 2013
Alan Oke (Grimes), Giselle Allen (Ellen), David Kempster (Balstrode), Gaynor Keeble (Auntie), Robert Murray (Bob Boles), Catherine Wyn-Rogers (Mrs Sedley), Charles Rice (Ned Keene); Britten–Pears Orchestra, Steuart Bedford, Tim Albery (dir.)
Purchase product
In almost all respects the technical side of the operation is a near triumph. Having the singers perform live...to the accompaniment of a pre-recorded orchestra was a gamble but it has paid...
About
Directed for the screen by Margaret Williams
Live production directed by Tim Albery
Filmed in June 2013 during three extraordinary performances that took place during the Aldeburgh Festival, Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh beach takes place in the heart of the town that inspired it and is the film interpretation of Britten’s Peter Grimes, the most successful opera of post-war Britain. Based on George Crabbe’s 1810 poem ‘The Borough’, Britten’s powerful and masterful evocation of the North Sea in all its moods has become inextricably linked with the Aldeburgh that was home to Crabbe in the late eighteenth century and Britten in the twentieth, and where both poem and opera were written.
Conceived and hosted by the Aldeburgh Festival, the performances of Peter Grimes were directed by Tim Albery who placed the audience on the beach watching the story of Peter Grimes unfold as dusk fades over the sea.
The cast and chorus, with Alan Oke in the eponymous role of Peter Grimes, Giselle Allan as Ellen Orford, and David Kempster as Captain Balstrode, sing live with amplification, while the Britten-Pears Orchestra under the baton of Britten expert Steuart Bedford is pre-recorded.
Sound Formats: PCM Stereo, dts-HD Master Audio 5.1
Picture Format: 16:9
Resolution: 1080i High Definition
Running Time: 145 mins & 20 mins (Bonus)
Blu-ray Disc: 25 GB (Single Layer)
FSK: 0
Contents and tracklist
- Alan Oke (Peter Grimes), Giselle Allen (Ellen Orford), David Kempster (Captain Balstrode), Gaynor Keeble (Auntie), Alexandra Hutton (First Niece), Charmian Bedford (Second Niece), Robert Murray (Bob Boles), Henry Waddington (Swallow), Catherine Wyn-Rogers (Mrs Sedley), Christopher Gillett (Rev. Horace Adams), Charles Rice (Ned Keene), Stephen Richardson (Hobson)
- Chorus of Opera North, Chorus of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama & Britten–Pears Orchestra
- Steuart Bedford
Spotlight on this release
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Awards and reviews
April 2014
In almost all respects the technical side of the operation is a near triumph. Having the singers perform live...to the accompaniment of a pre-recorded orchestra was a gamble but it has paid off with very decent sound...a unique and satisfying experience.
February 2014
Oke's is the closest tenor I've heard to Peter Pears as Grimes - crystal-clear diction, a slightly nasal tone, but mesmeric in the 'Now the Great Bear' soliloquy...This is an excellent memento of a remarkable experience, but is also a production and a performance of the opera which will be widely appreciated by all.
