The Turn of the Screw (Benjamin Britten)

[Cosi bel do]

It's funny there is a topic on Henry James's short story, but not yet on Benjamin Britten's adapted 1954 chamber opera, one of his (many) masterpieces for the stage.

This ghost story turned by Britten and librettist Myfanwy Piper into a psychological introspection (or do you feel it is actually how James intended it in 1898 ?) is gripping, and not least thanks to Britten's very sophisticated structure. It is based on a twelve-tone theme or motive exposed after the Prologue, with a variation on it interposed between scenes, for a total of 15 variations. The two acts mirror each other, as the tonality of variations in Act I ascend and then descend in Act II. I find an interesting experience to listen to these variations separately, by the way.
I believe this score is one of its kind in Britten's works.

I didn't know this work that well, but found the new Bolton / Guth production at Staatsoper Berlin enticing, and decided to go see it in a week. I'll tell you what my impressions are, but here's a nice intro video :

http://www.youtube.com/v/ue237RqgRlM

As I'm listening again or for the first time a few recordings, I think it is safe to say that there are two main references on CD :

- Britten's own 1955 early version, with his English Opera Group, Jennifer Vyvyan and Peter Pears. Available in old or more recent sets from Decca :



- Daniel Harding's recording with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the magnificent Joan Rodgers as the governess, and Ian Bostridge in the Prologue and as Quint (2002.
Available separately with libretto (you can still find it on marketplace) or without it, or in the EMI/Warner Collector's Edition.



- It seems Colin Davis's version with ROH, originally used for a filmed production, with Helen Donath and Robert Tear, is also recommendable (Philips/Decca, 1981). I'll try it next...
I've also heard good things about Steuart Bedford's version with Aldeburgh Festival Ensemble (Naxos).



- On DVD/BR I know only the extraordinary Luc Bondy & Daniel Harding production from Aix-en-Provence in 2001, with Mireille Delunsch. Breathtaking (if not exactly musically perfect). I'd be interested to see a video of Deborah Warner's production at the ROH, with the cast of which the Harding recording was done, but I'm not sure one exists...
I don't know the other video versions available : Bedford/Hampe/Stuttgart Radio/Helen Field, Hickox/London Sinfonietta/Padmore/Milne (TV version) and Hrusa/Kent/LPO/Persson. I should be able to watch the Hickox version soon.



Let's discuss all that What do you think of the opera ? Of the adaptation ? Of different versions ? What are your favourites ?

[Karl Henning]

It's funny there is a topic on Henry James's short story, but not yet on Benjamin Britten's adapted 1954 chamber opera, one of his (many) masterpieces for the stage.

This ghost story turned by Britten and librettist Myfanwy Piper into a psychological introspection (or do you feel it is actually how James intended it in 1898 ?)

I think the beauty of the source novella is its ambiguity.  Of course, Britten/Piper needed to make certain decisions for staging, and that miasmic ambiguity is lost.

But I think of it not much different than Othello/Otello:  both great, but in some ways, perfectly distinct accomplishments.

[Tsaraslondon]

It's funny there is a topic on Henry James's short story, but not yet on Benjamin Britten's adapted 1954 chamber opera, one of his (many) masterpieces for the stage.

This ghost story turned by Britten and librettist Myfanwy Piper into a psychological introspection (or do you feel it is actually how James intended it in 1898 ?) is gripping, and not least thanks to Britten's very sophisticated structure. It is based on a twelve-tone theme or motive exposed after the Prologue, with a variation on it interposed between scenes, for a total of 15 variations. The two acts mirror each other, as the tonality of variations in Act I ascend and then descend in Act II. I find an interesting experience to listen to these variations separately, by the way.
I believe this score is one of its kind in Britten's works.

I didn't know this work that well, but found the new Bolton / Guth production at Staatsoper Berlin enticing, and decided to go see it in a week. I'll tell you what my impressions are, but here's a nice intro video :

http://www.youtube.com/v/ue237RqgRlM

As I'm listening again or for the first time a few recordings, I think it is safe to say that there are two main references on CD :

- Britten's own 1955 early version, with his English Opera Group, Jennifer Vyvyan and Peter Pears. Available in old or more recent sets from Decca :



- Daniel Harding's recording with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the magnificent Joan Rodgers as the governess, and Ian Bostridge in the Prologue and as Quint (2002.
Available separately with libretto (you can still find it on marketplace) or without it, or in the EMI/Warner Collector's Edition.



- It seems Colin Davis's version with ROH, originally used for a filmed production, with Helen Donath and Robert Tear, is also recommendable (Philips/Decca, 1981). I'll try it next...
I've also heard good things about Steuart Bedford's version with Aldeburgh Festival Ensemble (Naxos).



- On DVD/BR I know only the extraordinary Luc Bondy & Daniel Harding production from Aix-en-Provence in 2001, with Mireille Delunsch. Breathtaking (if not exactly musically perfect). I'd be interested to see a video of Deborah Warner's production at the ROH, with the cast of which the Harding recording was done, but I'm not sure one exists...
I don't know the other video versions available : Bedford/Hampe/Stuttgart Radio/Helen Field, Hickox/London Sinfonietta/Padmore/Milne (TV version) and Hrusa/Kent/LPO/Persson. I should be able to watch the Hickox version soon.



Let's discuss all that What do you think of the opera ? Of the adaptation ? Of different versions ? What are your favourites ?

You have done your homework. I didn't even know of the existence of some of these recordings.

The Turn of the Screw was the first Britten opera I ever saw (in a wonderfully atmospheric production by Anthony Besch for Scottish Opera) and I absolutely loved it. I have seen other productions since, of course, but that first remains my favourite, if for no other reason that it managed to convey something of the ambiguity of the James novella. Mind you, I don't think I've ever seen a bad production. It's one of those works that is so well crafted that it almost plays itself.

I have heard a few of the recordings above, but my preference is still for the composer's own, if only because the singers all have impeccable diction, singing the English language naturally and intelligibly. Is the fact that most opera houses now use surtitles the reason why singers have become lazy in this respect now?

[Wendell_E]

- On DVD/BR I know only the extraordinary Luc Bondy & Daniel Harding production from Aix-en-Provence in 2001, with Mireille Delunsch. Breathtaking (if not exactly musically perfect). I'd be interested to see a video of Deborah Warner's production at the ROH, with the cast of which the Harding recording was done, but I'm not sure one exists...
I don't know the other video versions available : Bedford/Hampe/Stuttgart Radio/Helen Field, Hickox/London Sinfonietta/Padmore/Milne (TV version) and Hrusa/Kent/LPO/Persson. I should be able to watch the Hickox version soon.

There's also an Opera Australia production, conducted by David Stanhope:  http://www.opusarte.com/details/OAF4014D#.VHMgGZUtCUk

[mc ukrneal]

I think the beauty of the source novella is its ambiguity.  Of course, Britten/Piper needed to make certain decisions for staging, and that miasmic ambiguity is lost.

I cannot agree. I think a lot depends on the production. Some productions try to answer the questions (or provide some sort of clear viewpoint), but I think the best are those that don't make the reality of the situation clear. And in this sense, I think the adaptation is quite good, as it gives the directors of the productions latitude to emphasize what they want. Sometimes the horror is overplayed (my opinion) - I like it when it litterally creeps up on you as you 'discover' just what is going on there. The psychology of it is brilliant, something I find few other operas match.

[Karl Henning]

I cannot agree. I think a lot depends on the production. Some productions try to answer the questions (or provide some sort of clear viewpoint), but I think the best are those that don't make the reality of the situation clear. And in this sense, I think the adaptation is quite good, as it gives the directors of the productions latitude to emphasize what they want. Sometimes the horror is overplayed (my opinion) - I like it when it litterally creeps up on you as you 'discover' just what is going on there. The psychology of it is brilliant, something I find few other operas match.

Thanks; time I went back to this.

[Tsaraslondon]

I cannot agree. I think a lot depends on the production. Some productions try to answer the questions (or provide some sort of clear viewpoint), but I think the best are those that don't make the reality of the situation clear. And in this sense, I think the adaptation is quite good, as it gives the directors of the productions latitude to emphasize what they want. Sometimes the horror is overplayed (my opinion) - I like it when it litterally creeps up on you as you 'discover' just what is going on there. The psychology of it is brilliant, something I find few other operas match.

I agree with you. This is one of the reasons I found the Anthony Besch production for Scottish Opera all those years ago so good. Quite aside from its crepuscular beauty, you were never entirely sure if the ghosts existed or were just parts of the Governess's feverish imagination. It's still my favorite of all the ones I've seen.

[knight66]

^{http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,163.msg755282/topicseen.html#msg755282}

Here is my two pence worth from the Britten Opera thread.

Mike

[Cosi bel do]

November 27, 2014
Staatsoper Berlin, new production
Ivor Bolton (musical direction)
Claus Guth (staging)



I waited a few days after attending a performance of the new Staatsoper production in Berlin, before sharing my impressions. Mainly because it really fuels the debate that karl and mc echoed :

I think the beauty of the source novella is its ambiguity.  Of course, Britten/Piper needed to make certain decisions for staging, and that miasmic ambiguity is lost.

But I think of it not much different than Othello/Otello:  both great, but in some ways, perfectly distinct accomplishments.

I cannot agree. I think a lot depends on the production. Some productions try to answer the questions (or provide some sort of clear viewpoint), but I think the best are those that don't make the reality of the situation clear. And in this sense, I think the adaptation is quite good, as it gives the directors of the productions latitude to emphasize what they want. Sometimes the horror is overplayed (my opinion) - I like it when it litterally creeps up on you as you 'discover' just what is going on there. The psychology of it is brilliant, something I find few other operas match.

Claus Guth has actually decided he would not go with the ambiguity, but with an interpretation. He sees the story in one unambigous way, and imposes his view on the whole thing. And this his something I could really have hated. Just think that :
- he considers the whole thing is a story of pure sexual perversion and exuberance (initiated by Quint and Jessel), including brother-sister incest, and lesbian attraction between the governess and Mrs Grose,
- for this staging to be possible, both children are actually played by adults, juvenile Sonia Grané and young countertenor Thomas Lictenecker,
- both ghosts are not present on stage, both roles were sung off stage, as if they only existed in the mind of the governess and (maybe?) of the children,
- at the end, Guth doesn't keep James' ambiguity, but neither does he adopt Britten's very naive (imo) solution of Miles fleeing Quint to throw himself in the arms of his governess and saviour. On the contrary, Guth considers the governess kills Miles, and the curtain falls on her dining alone, contemplating her psychopath deeds.

So this is clearly one of the most audacious views on the Turn of the Screw. But what is extraordinary is that it really works. This is also the consequence of a very intelligent scenography. I actually think the whole interpretation by Guth starts from one sentence, the governess' "Lost in my labyrinth". Actually, from the initial intervention by a very Frasier Cranian's Padmore in the prologue, pulling the curtain to show the stage, the story is presented like a case, a psychatric one (but without any excessive point being made, I mean, no freudian couch, no straitjacket or anything of the kind).
From this, Guth concludes that the story is taking place in the governess' mental labyrinth, and we perceive reality with the same unsteadiness that she suffers from. Therefore, the house revolves around us, the settings turn around on stage, doors and windows move, recomposing different rooms of the house. It seems like something already seen hundreds of times, but it was really excellently done, and visually as striking as Mr Guth's Nozze in Salzburg.

So, in the end, this is how Regietheater wins. You might not agree with everything, but the result is striking, perfectly realized, and raises new questions and doubt about a work you thought you knew very well.

Musically, things were not entirely satisfactory. The cast was good but a few singers were difficult to understand. This is partly because of the inadequate hall that is used by the Staatsoper during renovation of the opera house on Unter den Linden, but still, Marie McLaughlin (Mrs Grose) and Richard Croft (Peter Quint) were weirdly lacking clarity. Emma Bell as the governess was really excellent though.
The orchestral score was well played, and benefited from the deep and dense sound of Staatskapelle Berlin (even with such a small ensemble), but without the precision, the subtelety of textures, and at times the tension one could hear in different renditions by Daniel Harding. Ivor Bolton might be responsible, but the venue could also be, at least partly.

A few musical issues were also the direct consequence of staging choices : the offstage ghosts were limited by the quality of the sound system (like in an old cinema), the "adult children" were still adults mimicking innocence... But I don't think I've seen an entirely satisfactory staging of this work. Bondy/Harding might be the best (where the ambiguity is better rendered anyway), but Delunsch's accent is horrible, and the fact Flora seems really older than Miles is unsatisfactory. I also watched the BBC film by Katie Mitchell & Richard Hickox, which is really too trite and conservative for my taste (it's like Britten had watched Downton Abbey before composing his opera), also not convincing at all with Lisa Milne not resembling at all a young, pretty and naive governess (and even the soundtrack is not perfect).
By the way, it's funny how each production creates weird inconsistencies. I'd like to know why Claus Guth thought Mrs Grose should wear have reading glasses hanging about her neck, when she's supposed not to be able to read...

A few more opinions on the Staatsoper production:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/29f32ac2-70ae-11e4-8113-00144feabdc0.html
http://www.ad-hoc-news.de/berliner-staatsoper-the-turn-of-the-screw-dinner-for-one--/de/News/40436908
http://bachtrack.com/fr_FR/review-turn-screw-guth-berlin-november-2014