Britten: The Rape of Lucretia (Glyndebourne)

Christine Rice (Lucretia); Allan Clayton (Male Chorus); Kate Royal (Female Chorus); Duncan Rock (Tarquinius); Matthew Rose (Collatinus); Michael Sumuel (Junius); Catherine Wyn-Rogers (Bianca); Louise Alder (Lucia); London Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra); Leo Hussain (Conductor); Fiona Shaw (Director);

Seventy years after its Glyndebourne world premiere, Benjamin Britten’s first chamber opera is welcomed home with ‘a performance of enthralling emotional power and physical beauty’ gifted with ‘piercingly intelligent, immaculately realised staging and superb singing, acting and playing’ led by ‘Fiona Shaw’s supremely nuanced direction’ and underpinned by ‘febrile playing’ from members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (The Telegraph ★★★★★). The production eloquently and tastefully tackles the difficult subject, which is lent emotional weight by ‘Christine Rice’s grandly sung Lucretia, noble in tone yet tragically vulnerable’, along with baritone Duncan Rock’s ‘forthright’ Tarquinius and the‘smooth bass’ of Matthew Rose as the caring Collatinus (The Guardian ★★★★).

Reviews

"This new production… the first at Glyndebourne since Britten’s chamber opera had its premiere there in 1946, is quite the darkest – and possibly the most truthful – you’re likely to see in some time." (The Times ★★★★★)

"Piercingly intelligent, immaculately realised ... Here is music drama of the very highest power and quality." (The Daily Telegraph ★★★★★)

"A strong cast, including Christine Rice’s noble Lucretia and Duncan Rock’s forthright Tarquinius, bring Britten’s tragic chamber opera vividly to life." (The Guardian ★★★★)

"It's beautifully acted and sung. Rice wrings your heart throughout and her self-lacerating final scenes have a harrowing immediacy... Leo Hussain gets finely detailed playing from his LPO instrumentalists, with every flicker of colour speaking volumes." (Gramophone)

"The DVD is evidence of a work, performances and a production accomplished at the highest level, each component brilliant and compelling in its own right, but here functioning perfectly together to deliver an effect that is simply overwhelming... The vision and power of Fiona Shaw's direction is compelling. Far from underplaying the terrible sexual violence at the opera's heart, Shaw sees the work's darkness as the inescapable centre around which which it turns... Christine Rice is magnificent in the title role, her mezzo tones at once sensual, mellifluous, velvety, richly coloured. Dunacan Rock's Tarquinius is handsomely and passionately sung... Sonically, the recording is a treat: resonant, richly coloured, responsive to the detailed textural marvels of Britten's score, its timbres alive and true." (DVD of the Month - Opera)