The Turn of the Screw - Die Drehung der Schraube

This is one of my favorites of all Britten's works! Perhaps others think melody is scarce in this chamber opera, but I must disagree. There are so many beautiful passages and arias: The Prologue, "Why did I come?", Governess' aria from scene 4 (Act 1), "Dear God is there no end", "Malo, malo", the duet of Quint and Jessel, and Quint's stunning coloratura flourish "Miles".

There is one casting hiccup: Flora is played by a very adult Machiko Obata--she looks like Miles' mother (but she has a wonderful voice, so I got over it). There are slightly funny shots of Mr. Bedford's prissy podium style--in between all scenes and acts--with his pinky fingers in the air. Those are just minute grievances in an overall sterling performance.

The performers are in perfect voice: Helen Field, Richard Greager, Menai Davies, Phyllis Cannan, and Sam Linay (he succeeds in evoking both innocence and sinisterness).

It is a very worthy presentation of Britten's masterwork and it shouldn't be missed!

I've had mixed feelings about this chamber opera since I first saw it. Britten had a fine sense of the dramatic and a wonderful ear for sonorities. But opera is also melody and this is where, in my opinion, he falls down. Though the lines are well constructed, the vocal lines are just not interesting and I, for one, come away feeling rather unsatisfied with the whole thing.

I also have long wondered about the wisdom of having singing ghosts who are generally silent in non-operatic versions.

Steuart Bedford, the conductor here, is the next best thing to having Britten on the podium and, indeed, he took over for Britten when he was too ill to conduct Death in Venice, his last opera. But, many years before, Britten did a complete recording of "Turn of the Screw" in glorious mono.

Britten's original cast had his life partner, Peter Pears, as Peter Quint as well as the prologue. Sir Peter therefore was authoritative in the part but Richard Greager does as well as possible under the circumstances. Helen Field is the unnamed governess played by Jennifer Vyvyan in the original and on the recording (all done by the original cast I believe.) and she too does what she can. Sam Linay is the boy Miles played on the original by David Hemmings (Yes, him!) who was incomparable. Machiko Obata played Flora (Olive Dyer), Menai Davies was the well-upholstered housekeeper Mrs. Grose (Joan Cross) and Phyllis Cannan was the female ghost Miss Jessel. (Arda Mandikian.)

This version, incidentally, is much more successful than that strange dubbed Czech version shot in and around on a real manor (1982, directed by Petr Weigl with mostly English singers.) which basically left too little to the imagination.

As I've said, Benjamin Britten's music is not for all tastes. While it took me a while to, I like it and feel that Turn of the Screw is one of his finest works. The story itself is a classic, spooky and always compelling and the music of Britten's opera helps to accentuate this, complimenting the story rather than distracting from it. And this production is just wonderful, with the only real disappointment being some of the annoying close-ups of the conductor Stuart Bedford. The black and white shades that dominate the costumes and sets convey the shadowy mood very effectively. Mostly the video directing is unobtrusive and excellent in general. The stage direction is elegant and conveys the eerie ambiance of the opera superbly, nothing fussy, overdone, stagy, dull or in bad taste.

On a musical front, there are no problems. The orchestral playing is both lyrical and hair-raising and Bedford's conducting shows musicality and authority, on DVD the best conducting job along with Richard Hickox for the 2004 Lisa Milne production. The performances are likewise outstanding. Machiko Obata is perhaps on the mature side for Flora, but her beautiful voice and excellent acting more than makes up for that. Samuel Linay's Miles is appropriately arch and with some innocence, both of which are perfect for this role. Helen Field sings with great beauty of tone and her grief is very poignant. Richard Greager shows Quint's conflicted personality to great effect, his calls to Miles is inviting and sinister in equal measure. Menai Davies is particularly intense as Mrs Grose in her conversation with Field's Governess, and Phyllis Cannan's Jessel is the very definition of chilling.

In conclusion, a wonderful production, one of the best available productions of the opera. 9/10 Bethany Cox