Page 587 - Media Coverage Book - 75th Aldeburgh Festival 2024

tale. This present setting was in Blythburgh church, near the Blyth River – renamed by
Britten for the significance of curlews in the text – where in medieval times, those of
Motomasa, a priory stood nearby. With the opening plainchant Te lucis ante terminum
sung by the male chorus in solemn procession down the wooden walkway constructed
in the aisle, towards the platform depicting the ferry, the dignity and control which had
so moved Britten when seeing Sumidagawa in Tokyo was set in train here, but with a
contemporary resonance.

Under the directorship of Audrey Hyland, the chamber musicians were most eloquent
and the cast could hardly have been stronger. Willard White was the authoritative
Abbot, with Duncan Rock as the Ferryman, a forceful presence whose mocking turns to
sympathy as the Madwoman’s plight emerges, while Marcus Farnsworth was acutely
sensitive as the Traveller, his compassion helping define the overall emotional
trajectory.

For Ian Bostridge, fresh from a run of performances of Schubert’s Winterreise, this was
a deeper foray into the torment of loss, his Madwoman wearing a tattered dress and a
man’s jacket, clutching a quilt, evidence of the year-long quest. He conveyed vividly the
mother’s pain, his tenor voice these days altogether fuller-bodied, ringing out through
the church and incredibly affecting. Britten’s ending brings redemption as the spirit of
the child blesses his mother, miraculously restoring her sanity. This was certainly an
evening to reinforce the view that Curlew River itself constitutes a minor musical
miracle.

This production was televised for future broadcast