Britten: The Turn of the Screw

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As Sir Colin Davis has shown on Philips, there's room for an alternative interpretation of this remarkable work, but this superb first recording will remain as documentary-historical evidence... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Catalogue No: 4256722
Label: Decca
Series: Opera Sets
Length: 1 hour 45 minutes

Britten: The Turn of the Screw, Op.54 / Act One

Work length52:05

$9.90

$13.50

Jennifer Vyvyan (soprano), David Hemmings (boy soprano), Peter Pears (tenor), Olive Dyer (soprano), Joan Cross (soprano), Arda Mandikian (soprano)
English Opera Group
Benjamin Britten
Recorded: 1955-01-07
Recording Venue: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London

Prologue

Track length2:48

$1.10

$1.50

Theme - Scene 1: The Journey

Track length3:25

$1.10

$1.50

Interlude: Variation I - Scene 2: The Welcome

Track length4:08

$1.10

$1.50

Interlude: Variation II - Scene 3: The Letter

Track length3:51

$1.10

$1.50

Interlude: Variation III - Scene 4: The Tower

Track length5:49

$1.10

$1.50

Interlude: Variation IV - Scene 5: The Window

Track length9:59

$1.10

$1.50

Interlude: Variation V - Scene 6: The Lesson

Track length4:44

$1.10

$1.50

Interlude: Variation VI - Scene 7: The Lake

Track length6:37

$1.10

$1.50

Interlude: Variation VII - Scene 8: At Night

Track length10:44

$1.10

$1.50

Britten: The Turn of the Screw, Op.54 / Act Two

Work length52:57

$8.80

$12.00

David Hemmings (boy soprano), Arda Mandikian (soprano), Olive Dyer (soprano), Peter Pears (tenor), Joan Cross (soprano), Jennifer Vyvyan (soprano)
English Opera Group
Benjamin Britten
Recorded: 1955-01-07
Recording Venue: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London

Interlude: Variation VIII - Scene 1: Colloquy and So- lioquy

Track length8:36

$1.10

$1.50

Interlude: Variation IX - Scene 2: The Bells

Track length8:30

$1.10

$1.50

Interlude: Variation X - Scene 3: Miss Jessel

Track length6:20

$1.10

$1.50

Interlude: Variation XI - Scene 4: The Bedroom

Track length5:57

$1.10

$1.50

Interlude: Variation XII - Scene 5: Quint

Track length2:06

$1.10

$1.50

Interlude: Variation XIII - Scene 6: The Piano

Track length4:51

$1.10

$1.50

Interlude: Variation XIV - Scene 7: Flora

Track length4:54

$1.10

$1.50

Interlude: Variation XV - Scene 8: Miles

Track length11:43

$1.10

$1.50

Reviews
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Reviews

2010

As Sir Colin Davis has shown on Philips, there's room for an alternative interpretation of this remarkable work, but this superb first recording will remain as documentary-historical evidence of the highest importance and value. Will there ever be a better performance, let alone recording, of The Turn of the Screw than this by the original cast, recorded less than four months after the 1954 Venice premiere? This score is Britten at his greatest, expressing good and evil with equal ambivalence, evoking the tense and sinister atmosphere of Bly by inspired use of the chamber orchestra and imparting vivid and truthful life to every character in the story. As one listens, transfixed, all that matters is Britten's genius as a composer. Jennifer Vyvyan's portrayal of the Governess is a classic characterisation, her vocal subtleties illuminating every facet of the role and she has the perfect foil in Joan Cross's motherly and uncomplicated Mrs Grose. The glittering malevolence of Pears's Quint, luring David Hemmings's incomparable Miles to destruction; the tragic tones of Arda Mandikian's Miss Jessel; Olive Dyer's spiteful Flora – how fortunate we are that these performances are preserved.
As with all the Decca/Britten reissues, the transfer is a triumph.

2011 edition

Though the recording is in mono olny, the very dryness and sharpness of focus give an extra intensity to the composer's own incomparable reading of this most compressed opera...so atmospheric and powerful is this performance, visuals become almost irrelevant, so vividly are pictures painted in the mind.

Britten: The Turn of the Screw

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