Britten: Peter Grimes (Teatro alla Scala)

John Graham-Hall (Peter Grimes); Francesco Malvuccio (Boy); Susan Gritton (Ellen Orford); Christopher Purves (Captain Balstrode); Felicity Palmer (Auntie); Ida Falk Winland (First Niece); Simona Mihai (Second Niece); Peter Hoare (Bob Boles); Daniel Okulitch (Swallow); Catherine Wyn-Rogers (Mrs Sedley); Christopher Gillett (Rev. Horace Adams); George Von Bergen (Ned Keene);

The Italian and international press were unanimous in their praise for Peter Grimes at La Scala, which revived the tradition of Britten's operas on the lyric stages of Italy. A strong British cast was marshalled by the baton of Robin Ticciati, who has already won golden opinions for his opera conducting. Richard Jones's production focuses on the fisherman as the outsider in a brutal society, cut off by mutual suspicion and misunderstanding: an unforgettable production of an opera that never loses its power.

Peter Grimes - John Graham-Hall

Boy - Francesco Malvuccio

Ellen Orford - Susan Gritton

Captain Balstrode - Christopher Purves

Auntie - Felicity Palmer

First Niece - Ida Falk Winland

Second Niece - Simona Mihai

Bob Boles - Peter Hoare

Swallow - Daniel Okulitch

Mrs. Sedley - Catherine Wyn-Rogers

Rev. Horace Adams - Christopher Gillett

Ned Keene - George Von Bergen

Chorus & Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala

Conductor - Robin Ticciati

Director - Richard Jones

Recorded live at the Teatro all Scala, June 2012

Reviews

"... the thrilling baton-wielding of Robin Ticciati, whose enthusiastic yet disciplined conducting earns him a standing ovation from a La Scala Orchestra that emerges as polished, urgent and surprisingly at ease with Britten’s score. There is strength from first to last among the soloists, three of whom (Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Christopher Gillett and Stephen Richardson) would go on to repeat their roles this year at the centenary staging of “Grimes on the (Aldeburgh) Beach”. As Grimes, John Graham-Hall is every bit as intense as he was in ENO’s recent revival of Britten’s Death in Venice." (Classical Source)

"Jones has instilled in his singing actors a level of detail and a harrowing believability one is more accustomed to encountering in spoken drama ... Gritton's Ellen is remarkable...[Graham-Hall ] lives his role - earnest, lonely, impulsive, with a desperate desire for acceptance ... Ticciati is in full control from the start." (International Record Review)

"... the pride and joy of Richard Jones's production, not to be missed, is its unerring grasp of the psychology and tiered relationship of all the characters. ... Ticciati eschews the weighty, rather Germanic approach of older conductors...concentrating (like Goodall or Hickox) on rhythmic and instrumental subtleties." (Gramophone)

"[Grimes is] no tough fisherman but a seedy inadequate cringing from the local teenagers, and suggesting all too contemporary abuse problems. John Graham-Hall evokes his contorted inner life superbly, but with leaner tones than competitors on video." (BBC Music Magazine)