BRITTEN
Peter Grimes
Christopher Ventris - Peter Grimes
Emily Magee - Ellen Orford
Alfred Muff - Balstrode
Liliana Nikiteanu - Auntie
Sandra Trattnigg - Niece I
Liuba Chuchrova - Niece II
Rudold Schasching - Bob Boles
Richard Angas - Swallow
Corneila Kallisch - Mrs Sedley
Martin Zysset - Rev Horace Adams
Cheyne Davidson - Ned Keen
Valeriy Murga - Hobson
Orchestra and Chorus of the Zürich Opera House / Franz Welser-Möst
Recorded Live December 2005
Peter’s Line “Where the walls themselves gossip of inquest” - his cry of pain to Ellen after the coroner’s open verdict on the loss of his first apprentice - cues the scenery and concept. The Borough, some of its citizens mounted on chairs and pillars permanently suspended above an unchanging set, is never absent form this stylised, Brechtian (and Weillian) production. Pountney’s stage has no room for naturalistic clutter - no real boats, no fishing net, no beach………..
……….No Grimes on film is without some distinctive merit but this new EMI issue is carried by its cast, phenomenal chorus contribution, director and conductor to an important new interpretative level.
Mike Ashman (Gramophone)
EMI DVD 5009719