Tumultuous reaction to a great Britten opera
Peter Grimes
Ifelt a tremor of scepticism at the prospect of a concert version of
Peter Grimes: wouldn’t Britten’s first operatic masterpiece, so rooted in the evocation of place and community, lose some of its power without a theatrical context?
In the event, free to communicate almost naked of scenery or costume, its impact was nothing short of shattering. The music cast its spell and the audience’s imagination created its own production on the basis of a few barrels and ropes, and a cast lined up in front of the platform and dressed in unassertive contemporary clothes.
The project originated in Bergen, where it was mounted earlier this year as a collaboration between the city’s forthcoming opera company and venerable orchestra, the latter once led by Grieg and now under the baton of Edward Gardner. The playing here was intense, with Gardner holding nothing back from a score that is as savagely elemental as it is fiercely humane.
Stuart Skelton sang the title role. He’s a tenor of sterling heft and clarion tone, but although he’s impressed as Otello and Tristan in the past, I’ve never found his interpretations emotionally engaging. His Grimes, however, was another matter. Without any histrionics, he conveyed all the man’s struggle with his own worse self and made his descent into madness seem inevitable. An odd glitch in pitching Now the Great Bear aside, he sang with musicality and fidelity.
Erin Wall was a vocally glorious Ellen Orford, infusing her arias and the Act 2 quartet with Straussian radiance, while Christopher Purves brought a sharp edge to Balstrode, making him someone more interesting than the usual wise bluff old sea-dog. The other inhabitants of the Borough were all brilliantly characterised by the best British talents – Susan Bickley, Marcus Farnsworth and Robert Murray notable among them – with two alluring Norwegians, Hanna Husáhr and Vibeke Kristensen, as Auntie’s wittering nieces. You could not ask for better.
A mighty chorus, drawn from three Bergen-based choirs supplemented by students from the Royal Northern College of Music, sang without scores. The thunderous menace they generated in the manhunt made me want to hide under my seat – a magnificent climax to a stupendous performance that rightly earned a tumultuous reception.