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Dean Peterson, John Del Carlo, Anthony Dean Griffey, Felicity Palmer, Patricia Racette, Jill Grove, Greg Fedderly, Anthony Michaels-Moore, Bernard Fitch, Leah Partridge, Erin Morley & Logan William Erickson Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Donald Runnicles Anthony Dean Griffey and Patricia Racette excel in John Doyle’s new production of Britten’s most celebrated opera, Peter Grimes – filmed live at the Metropolitan Opera in Hi-Definition. This new MET production by award-winning director John Doyle (2006 Tony Award® Best Direction of a Musical – Sweeney Todd) of Britten’s haunting seaside tale continues EMI Classics’ recent collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera : Live in High-Definition series. Peter Grimes, Britten’s second opera, is widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of postwar opera, and its premiere 63 years ago marked a turning point in the history of British Opera. It is now considered a masterwork of 20th Century opera, and since its premiere, it became the first opera by an English composer to enter and remain in the international repertory. The work is based on a poem by the turn-of-the-19th-century writer George Crabbe entitled The Borough, and is set in an isolated English fishing village in the 1830s. Much of the emotional drive of the opera comes from the six ‘Sea Interludes’ – calm, storm, at dawn and by moonlight. These are among the most brilliantly evocative music that Britten ever wrote and which help to establish the constant, overpowering presence of the sea as the opera’s dominant force. Anthony Dean Griffey, as Grimes, is ‘superb’ (San Francisco Chronicle). Patricia Racette, as Ellen Orford, the schoolmistress who tries and fails to rescue Grimes from his anger and self-pity is ‘near faultless’ (New York Sun). Donald Runnicles, music director of the San Francisco Opera, “drew an inspired performance from the Met Orchestra, full of passion and commitment yet free of bombast. Without slackening the dramatic tension, he found ways of drawing out both the music's austere lyricism and its violent extremes.” – Boston Globe Production: John Doyle, Set designer: Scott Pask, Costume designer: Ann Hould-Ward & Lighting designer: Peter Mumford | 
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| |  | The Britten-Pears Collection
Peter Pears (Grimes), Heather Harper (Ellen Orford), Bryan Drake (Balstrode), Elizabeth Bainbridge (Auntie), Owen Brannigan (Swallow) & Robert Tear (Rev Adams) London Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Britten The production was mounted by the celebrated Decca producer, John Culshaw, following his move to the BBC. “If Budd is to be strongly recommended, Grimes has to be urged, passionately: intensely moving, beyond expectations even though those were high. Heather Harper sings with the most beautiful tone in the role of Ellen and acts with compelling sincerity. Pears himself is utterly vindicated... The whole complex character is there - and the camera follows closely.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2008 |
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Philip Langridge, Janice Cairns, Alan Opie, Ann Howard, Andrew Greenan Chorus and Orchestra of the English National Opera, David Atherton Subtitles: PAL - English, German, French, Spanish; NTSC - English, Japanese, French, Spanish | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Philip Langridge, Alan Opie, Ameral Gunson, Anne Collins, Janice Watson, John Connell, John Fryatt, John Graham Hall, Matthew Best, Pamela Helen Stephen, Roderick Williams, Yvonne Barclay London Symphony Chorus, Opera London. City of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Jon Vickers (Peter Grimes), Heather Harper (Ellen Orford), Jonathan Summers (Balstrode), Elizabeth Bainbridge (Auntie), Thomas Allen (Ned Keene), Patricia Payne (Mrs Sedley), John Dobson (Bob Boles), Forbes Robinson (Swallow), Teresa Cahill (First Niece), Anne Pashley (Second Niece), John Lanigan (Rev Horace Adams), Richard van Allan (Hobson) Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Sir Colin Davis recorded 1978 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Peter Pears, Jean Watson, Owen Brannigan Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Benjamin Britten The creator's recording with Peter Pear's heart-rending portrayal of Grimes central to a magnificent cast - James Jolly, Gramophone 1000th issue | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Felicity Lott & Thomas Allen Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Bernard Haitink “surely the most beautifully sung and played Grimes on disc, though the excellent ensemble, thoughtfully led by Rolfe Johnson, doesn't always evoke souls in torment. Words come across very clearly in the superb recording.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2008 **** | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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Christopher Ventris, Emily Magee & Alfred Muff Orchestra and Chorus of the Zürich Opera House, Franz Welser-Möst “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 is citizens mounted on chairs and pillars permanenly suspended above an unchanging set, is never absent from this stylised, Brechtian (and Weillian) production. Pountney's stage has no room for naturalistic clutter - no real boats, no fishing nets, no beach. Ellen is allowed more intimacy with Peter than one often sees... but, as soon as she realises his obsessive work methods will never change, her "Peter - we've failed" is final, provoking Grimes to inevitable self-destruction. In a penultimate Mad Scene of haunting, almost religious (or sacreligious) beauty, she and Balstrode sit with a dead boy each draped across their laps, either side of the constantly see-sawing Peter on a stylised boat platform with a cross-like mast. Unforgettable. Soon-to-depart Zürich maestro Welser-Möst's reading of the score is hardly less innovative, reminding one with its forward, motoric winds of some great, lost Shostakovich score and, ...this new EMI issue is carried by its cast, phenomenal chorus contribution, director and conductor to an important new interpretative level.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2008 | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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Peter Pears, Claire Watson, James Pease, David Kelly, Owen Brannigans, Lauris Elms, Jean Watson, Marion Studholme, Iris Kells, Raymond Nilsson, John Lanigan, Geraint Evans & Marcus Norman Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Benjamin Britten Recorded: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London, December 1958 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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Jon Vickers, Heather Harper, Norman Bailey The Royal Opera, Colin Davis, production by Elijah Moshinsky | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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