"Actor: Martyn Hill"

• Britten: Owen Wingrave - Berlin/Nagano | DVD | (22/12/2003) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Owen Wingrave is perhaps Britten's most radical opera, both politically and artistically. Originally written for television, and here presented in a 2001 Channel 4 version, the 1970 score is based, like The Turn of the Screw, on a Henry James ghost story. Britten, though, is more in tune than James with the pacifism into which Owen revolts from a long family tradition of military service. The fluid, impassioned, often declamatory music given Owen makes him one of the most sympathetic of Britten's outsider protagonists, though he has a streak of self-centredness, which stops him being an implausible paragon. Gerald Finley is quite admirable in the part, conveying fully the sense that by losing and dying at the hands of family ghosts, Owen demonstrates the integrity which is central to his character. The other parts are admirably filled here, notably Martyn Hill as Owen's harsh General grandfather, Josephine Barstow as his aunt and Charlotte Hellekant as the fiancee who unknowingly sends him to his death. They and Elizabeth Gale are quite extraordinary in the first act quartet of recrimination and condemnation. This excellent performance compares vocally with the original on almost entirely equal terms--modern technology means that the ghost scenes are far more dramatic and plausible. Kent Nagano and the Berlin Orchestra do full subtle justice to the chamber orchestra sonorities of one of Britten's most interesting scores, never overstressing its complex musical architecture at the expense of the drama. On the DVD: Owen Wingrave is presented in a widescreen 16:9 visual aspect ratio with PCM stereo sound. It is accompanied by The Tender Heart, a documentary about Britten's career full of personal reminiscences by his surviving friends, colleagues and family, that concentrates on Peter Grimes, the War Requiem and Death in Venice, the three popular masterpieces of his early, middle and late career. It has menus and subtitles in English, French, German and Spanish. --Roz Kaveney

• Tavener - Fall And Resurrection | DVD | (07/10/2002) from £7.55   |  Saving you £12.44 (164.77%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Fall and Resurrection was conceived by Sir John Tavener, perhaps the leading present-day composer of British spiritual music, to mark the new Millennium. Its premiere, preserved on this recording, took place at St Paul's Cathedral in January 2000, the acoustic of that historical venue contributing much to an intensely emotional experience for the audience, the singers and the musicians. It is an epic, tonal poem in which Tavener sublimates his own artistic achievement in a series of primordial movements and chants which encapsulate moments before, during and after Creation, ultimately offering a vision of divine hope which is tumultuous and profoundly moving. The performances, particularly from soprano Patricia Rozario and bass Stephen Richardson, are absorbing; Richard Hickox at the helm of the City of London Sinfonia ensures that all due attention is paid to the complexity and detail of Tavener's score, which is based on a Byzantine chant and including a variety of ancient instruments, from the kaval to Tibetan temple bowls. As Tavener explains in the accompanying interviews, he sees music as "liquid metaphysics", and truly sacred music can only be achieved through the total self-effacement of the composer. Thus he sets the listener--and viewer--a daunting task. Rising to it is not merely an auditory challenge. It requires an almost physical surrender. This is music which is absorbed as much as heard. On the DVD: Fall and Resurrection, presented in 16:9 anamorphic format, is splendidly delivered via a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound audio track which transports the viewer to the vaulting interior heights of St. Paul's Cathedral. Extras include two interviews with Tavener in which he talks with fascinating intensity about his own faith, the role of the composer and the complex musical and spiritual images encompassed by this work. --Piers Ford

• Tavener - Fall & Resurrection | DVD | (20/04/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £21.99