Stars: Glyndebourne Chorus, London Sinfonietta, Robert Tear, Alan Opie, Graeme Jenkins

Director: Stephen Lawless

Summary: Sung in English, this evocative adaptation of the famous book by Thomas Mann relates the story of a tragic writer who wanders alone in Venice, searching for inspiration. He finds it in the form of a young boy travelling with his family, but his growing obsession can only end in tragedy. Music by Benjamin Britten.

Thomas Mann's novel DEATH IN VENICE describes the moral and physical degeneration of Aschenbach, the writer whose obsessive and self-devouring pursuit of beauty in the form of a boy leads him to humiliation and death. Benjamin Britten's opera adaptation serves as an apocalyptic manifestation of the composer's vision. Robert Tear and Alan Opie star in this 1989 Glyndebourne production, accompanied by the London Sinfonietta under the baton of conductor Graeme Jenkins.

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Britten's last opera, Death in Venicewill always be associated with the two voices for which the major parts in it were written. It is the achievement of Robert Tear and Alan Opie, in this magisterial performance by Graeme Jenkins with the Glyndebourne touring company, to produce telling performances that are entirely separate from our memories. Tear's Aschenbach is more bull-like than Peter Pears' moralist dreamer; his drift into sentimental eroticisation of the boy Tadzio upsets him as much for the weakness it reveals as for the collapse of his virtue. Alan Opie is as much of a virtuoso as John Shirley-Quirk in the multiple roles that culminate in the corrupting voice of Dionysus--the hotelier who persuades Aschenbach to stay, the barber who gives him a toupee and paints his face, the street entertainer, the rake who flirts with sailors; the otherworldly counter-tenor of Michael Chance is spookily right as Apollo. The scenes for dancers manage to be at once dreams of the erotic and plausible adolescent sea-side wrestling; the direction by Stephen Lawless and Martha Clarke manages to capture the mistiness of the piece from which fate and strangeness suddenly emerge.

On the DVD: The DVD has subtitles in German, French and Spanish, as well as an acoustic which brings out the subtleties of Britten's string, brass and percussion in this difficult work. --Roz Kaveney

Aspect Ratio:	4:3 Full Frame
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 0
Subtitles:	English, French, Spanish
Year:	1989
Release Date:	April 2, 2001
Runtime:	138 minutes
Certification:	Exempt.
Catalogue Number:	100 172
Keywords:	Music, Death, Opera, Venice, Works, Stage, Classical, Britten, Performing, Operetta, Tod, Arts, Britten's, Venedig
Genre:	Music/Performing Arts