Britten: The Turn Of The Screw/ Bostridge, Harding

Ian Bostridge, Joan Rodgers / Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Harding

Britten: Turn of the Screw

Henry James’s unnverving novella, with its suggestions of neurosis, perversity and the supernatural, was the source for this claustrophobic, compelling opera, first performed in 1954. Accompanied by a colourful chamber ensemble, the action moves with an almost filmic fluidity, while the score is a blend of 12-tone techniques, striking motifs, lyricism and – often sinister in effect – children’s songs. A young governess is hired by the absent guardian of two children, Flora and Miles, who live in a country house called Bly. Her initial delight with the children and Bly is marred when she learns of Miles’s expulsion from his school, and then catches sight of a mysterious male figure. She discovers there was a predatory valet at Bly called Peter Quint who had an affair with a previous governess, Miss Jessel. Both were suspiciously close to the children and both are now dead. The Governess fears Quint’s influence and resolves to protect the children, but tensions increase when Miles goes into a trance in a Latin lesson and, as Flora plays by the lake, the Governess spots Miss Jessel. By the end of the opera, the Governess has engaged with Quint in a metaphysical tug-of-war over Miles – but the boy has been killed in the process.

Price: $29.98