Peter Grimes @ Grange Park Opera

Visually magnificent, the designs of Francis O’Connor transport the audience to the rolling seascapes of Suffolk and the spray-lashed dwellings and sheds clustered along the coast. The surf in its many moods reflects what is heard in the six musical interludes, my enjoyment of which was marred just slightly by the addition of extraneous stage business that appears something of a Grange Park trademark (as in Tristan und Isolde three years ago).

Conductor Stephen Barlow’s unusually stately reiteration of the opening ‘dawn’ music in the final act was masterly.

Slight alterations to the libretto make the action location-specific to Aldeburgh, including Grimes’s reference to Moot Hall. Other changes eliminate what in other productions sometimes seem odd disjunctions between actions and words.

As ever, the character of Grimes remains equivocal, though the audience must conclude that while the loss of one apprentice at sea might have been accidental, the death of another in a cliff plunge is something quite other. But director Jeremy Sams makes it clear here that young John’s fall was not assisted.

Though said to be suffering from sinusitis on opening night, Carl Tanner gave a surprisingly full-throated portrayal of the driven fisherman. There was excellent vocal work, too, from Clive Bayley as the Coroner Swallow and Stephen Gadd as Captain Balstrode. The female voices failed to achieve the same clarity of diction, making it regrettable that the production (unlike ENO’s) did not make use of surtitles. There was still much to enjoy, though, including the always-lovely ensemble featuring Ellen (Georgia Jarman), Auntie (Anne-Marie Owens) and her two ‘Nieces’ (Soraya Mafi and Rosie Bell).

Peter Grimes
Grange Park Opera
June 7, 11, 15, 18, 21
Tickets: 01962 737366, grangeparkopera.co.uk