The Turn of the Screw: Britten

Britten's music is not for everyone. I happen to like it, and Turn of the Screw is one of his best. This production is good in my opinion, it is not as good as the Lisa Milne performance or the Petr Weigl film but is more than worthy still. The production values manage to be a perfect mixture of beautiful, haunting and nocturnal, and is photographed lovingly. The staging is compelling and conveys the ghostly and psychological aspects well I thought, I personally didn't see anything all that incoherent about it. The orchestral playing, while not as effective as under Richard Hickox for the Milne production, is enough to provide some genuinely hair-raising moments, and the conducting is nuanced and sympathetic yet also commanding and strong. The singing is mostly excellent, the best being Wendy Dixon as a chillingly effective Jessel. Anson Austin sings beautifully and is a believable Quint(though Mark Padmore embodies the role more). Lanneke Jones is very good as Flora, and while sometimes rather breathy Patrick Littlemore's Miles is still menacing and arch. Eilene Hannan does lack control in her voice, but her sense of the role's high drama and poignant grief makes for an arresting presence. The weak link is Margaret Haggott as Mrs Grose, she is rather matronly and her voice is very squally under pressure. Overall, gorgeous visually, generally well sung and musically wonderful, not the one I'd immediately snap up as a favourite but definitely worth watching. 8/10 Bethany Cox