Britten - Peter Grimes -The Metropolitan Opera HD Live Series-

Product Description The Metropolitan Opera's acclaimed Live in High-Definition series, which projects live performances into theaters across the globe, has met with unprecedented critical and commercial success and has made opera convenient and affordable to millions of viewers worldwide. Now, EMI Classics is proud to collaborate with The Met to release 6 new DVDs made from these broadcast performances. "The more vicious the society, the more vicious the individual." (Benjamin Britten) Anthony Dean Griffey and Patricia Racette captivate in John Doyle's new production of Britten's tortured masterpiece. Donald Runnicles leads the Met Orchestra in what the Boston Globe called "an inspired performance . . . full of passion and commitment yet free of bombast." Amazon.com Few modern operas can match Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes for harrowing intensity wedded to brilliant music. Grimes is a fisherman whose young apprentices meet with unfortunate accidents, making him suspected of murder by his mean-spirited neighbors. At the end, Grimes’ psyche snaps and, suicidal, he rows out to sea to find oblivion under the waves. For a generation of opera-goers, the role of Grimes was defined by Jon Vickers, whose huge voice and overwhelming intensity embodied the loner struggling for self-preservation in a bigoted, conformist environment. In this new MET production, Grimes is the sterling American tenor Anthony Dean Griffey, who approaches the role from a very different, but also effective, angle. He’s a light-voiced lyric tenor, at the opposite end of the tonal spectrum from Vicker’s heroic voice. But so was the originator of the role, Peter Pears, and like Pears, Griffey projects an antihero enmeshed in self-doubt, confusion and bewilderment. He also sings and acts well; the voice easily encompassing Britten’s writing, the stage demeanor effective. Soprano Patricia Racette is a terrific Ellen Orford, the widow who tries to understand and help the hapless Grimes. Her bright-voiced portrayal makes her a profoundly sympathetic character. The entire cast is excellent in what is essentially an ensemble opera, though some manage to stand out: Felicity Palmer as the malevolent Mrs. Sedley, whose "Murder most foul" drips with venom; mezzo Jill Grove as "Auntie," John Del Carlo as a Swallow to remember, and Teddy Tahu Rhodes who brings welcome nuance to the role of Ned Keen