Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37735 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-02-28
• Rating: Exempt
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Classical, Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: German, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 138 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Britten's last opera, Death in Venice will 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

Special Features
4:3 Full Frame
English\French\Spanish

Synopsis
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.

Customer Reviews

Britten in Venice
I do not want to involve myself in the discussion whether this production resp. filming is to appreciate or to abandon - for me it is up today the only "Death" on DVD and because I love this opera so much I am grateful to have this disc.
Musically and visually I found myself impressed by some beauty of acting and the real perfection that Robert Tear brings to the character of Gustav von Aschenbach.
I also admire Alan Opie in most of the roles he gives - so I am not disappointed at all that he sings and acts the "collection" of important random persons so important for the way Aschenbach has to go.

to be avoided
There are so many drawbacks to this DVD that it is difficult to find anything positive to say about it. You will need a very good tv and DVD player to be able to adjust the brightness andcontrast etc in order to actually see what is going on for much of the time. The sound is only in straightforward stereo which is a great pity given how interesting the score is. There are no English surtitles which is ridiculous given how difficult it is to make out many of the words of the minor characters. To be fair what makes it such a poor experience is above all the original stage production and the way it was filmed. It is the only time I can recall where all the effort seems to have been put into making the acting area appear as small as possible rather than the opposite and there is very little attempt to suggest specific locations.
There are a couple of CD sets of this available and my advice would be to stick to them until a better DVD comes along.

Awesome!
This is amazing. Although I am biased because I am one of the male boy dancers in it.....!