Owen Wingrave is always worth hearing and does move me with a titular character you do feel for. But at the same time, it is not one my favourites from Britten, though I can understand why some may not like his music this is from someone who does like all his operas a good deal. This 2001 version is certainly interesting, if perhaps not ideal. The pace feels sluggish sometimes, and I also got the impression that some of the singers hadn't quite adjusted from performing opera on stage to performing it on film. However, the flashbacks don't deter from the story but instead does its best to make Wingrave relateable to the audience. The costumes and settings do look beautiful, while the orchestral playing perform the score(which is quite good but I find Peter Grimes and Turn of the Screw for examples much richer and perhaps more subtle in orchestration) with a strong sound and good musicality.
And Kent Nagano's conducting is efficient without feeling rushed whle also showing nuances without plodding. The singing is great, all the secondary roles are sung competently but their characterisations are not as detailed as that of Wingrave's, Kate's or Spencer's. All three of those roles are brilliantly done in all respects. In particular Gerald Finley whose Wingrave is powerful yet sensitive. Charlotte Hellekant has a rich voice and as well as being a beauty she manages to make her Act 2 taunts suitably foreboding. Peter Savidge sings sonorously and is suitably sympathetic as Spencer, though I perhaps prefer John Shirley-Quirk in the role. Josephine Barstow is also good, her voice has been better before but she characterises with subtlety and restraint on the most part. Overall, a good and interesting Owen Wingrave, but I think with more secure pacing and maybe as a live performance where it has more spontaneity I feel it could have been even better than it was.
7/10 Bethany Cox
And Kent Nagano's conducting is efficient without feeling rushed whle also showing nuances without plodding. The singing is great, all the secondary roles are sung competently but their characterisations are not as detailed as that of Wingrave's, Kate's or Spencer's. All three of those roles are brilliantly done in all respects. In particular Gerald Finley whose Wingrave is powerful yet sensitive. Charlotte Hellekant has a rich voice and as well as being a beauty she manages to make her Act 2 taunts suitably foreboding. Peter Savidge sings sonorously and is suitably sympathetic as Spencer, though I perhaps prefer John Shirley-Quirk in the role. Josephine Barstow is also good, her voice has been better before but she characterises with subtlety and restraint on the most part. Overall, a good and interesting Owen Wingrave, but I think with more secure pacing and maybe as a live performance where it has more spontaneity I feel it could have been even better than it was.
7/10 Bethany Cox