Owen Wingrave, Op. 85

Composer: Britten, Benjamin

Librettist/Text Author: Piper, Myfanwy

Conductor: Nagano, Kent

Orchestra: Berlin Deutsche Symphony Orchestra

Chorus: Westminster Cathedral Choir

Kate Julian: Hellekant, Charlotte

Miss Wingrave: Barstow, Josephine

Miss Wingrave: Marlton, Hilton

Mrs. Coyle: Dawson, Anne

Mrs. Julian: Gale, Elizabeth

Owen Wingrave: Finley, Gerald

Philip Wingrave: Hill, Martyn

Spencer Cole: Savidge, Peter

Television Director: Williams, Margaret

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Playing Time: 01:31:33

Catalogue Number: MID13244631

Synopsis

Owen Wingrave, Op. 85

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Thirty years after the original broadcast, Owen Wingrave returned to the small screen in a new version by the highly-regarded music and arts director Margaret Williams, who reveals through a vivid film vocabulary the intensity of the drama and its passionate realization in Benjamin Britten's music.

Shot entirely on location, the story is updated from Edwardian times to the 1950s, establishing a connection with World War II. Gerald Finley portrays Owen Wingrave, scion of a soldier family whose reluctance to join the family trade reflects Britten's own pacifist principles. Taunted and rejected by a hostile family, Owen confronts the ghosts of the past to rebut the charges of cowardice. With Peter Savidge, Hilton Marlton, Ann Dawson. Libretto by Myfanwy Piper.Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Westminster Cathedral Choir Choristers. Bonus Feature: The Hidden Heart (58 minutes) profiles Britten, the leading twentieth century British composer, telling the story of his life, reflecting on his music and his lifelong relationship with his partner and muse, tenor Peter Pears.