Britten: Peter Grimes Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.5

Britten: Peter Grimes Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 1, 2013

English village life might seem like an impossible ideal of sylvan beauty and provincial propriety, but as any lover of Agatha Christie mysteries can tell you, that’s all an illusion—those Brits, especially the agrarian minded, seem to be an unruly lot, given to lots of nefarious machinations and peccadilloes. If Christie was perhaps one of the better known 20th century authors plying these often roiling country waters, more than a century before Dame Agatha started spooling out her incredibly complex mystery stories, an English poet by the name of George Crabbe wrote a collection of verse called The Borough which included all sorts of sometimes unseemly stories built around various characters living in fictional villages that nonetheless resembled real life locales including one that both Crabbe and, much later, composer Benjamin Britten lived in. Britten and librettist Montagu Slater excised one section of The Borough about tragic fisherman Peter Grimes to musicalize, and the result was one of Britten’s outstanding success stories in the world of opera.

This handsome 2012 production from La Scala neatly (if slightly) updates the piece into quasi-modern times, and also benefits from a seamless, almost cinematic, physical production that segues effortlessly from scene to scene. John Graham-Hall is in excellent voice as Grimes (and watch how he manages to sing and chew gum in the Prologue), as is Susan Gritton as would be girlfriend Ellen Orford. There's an inexorably dour ambience to much of Peter Grimes that can't be denied, but there are some unexpectedly lighter moments as well (director Richard Jones sometimes plays the meddlesome townsfolk for laughs). Young and upcoming conductor Robin Ticciati does exceptional work with the orchestra, delivering some especially colorful renditions of the so-called Four Sea Interludes which Britten later excerpted from the opera as a standalone orchestral piece.

Britten: Peter Grimes Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Peter Grimes is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Opus Arte with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. This is a really nicely sharp and well detailed release that is helped by some natural looking stage lighting that keeps things bright and well defined. Some unusual camera placements (including an overhead one) add some visual variety to the proceedings. Colors are nicely saturated and very natural looking.

Britten: Peter Grimes Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Peter Grimes features both DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix as well as an LPCM 2.0 stereo fold down. Both of these tracks offer sterling fidelity and generally decent balance (the 5.1 track tends to just slightly favor the orchestra at times, tending to minimally bury some of the vocals). Both tracks offer brilliant clarity, especially with regard to the brass and wind instruments.

Britten: Peter Grimes Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interviews with Robin Ticciati, John Graham-Hall, Sarah Fahie and Richard Jones (1080i; 13:39


• Cast Gallery (1080i; 1:21)

Britten: Peter Grimes Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Peter Grimes is a really welcome addition to the Britten discography on Blu-ray. This production is well sung, well played, and well directed. Highly recommended.