http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/01/arts/music/ian-bostridge-stars-in-brittens-curlew-river.html 2014-11-01 01:12:14 Ian Bostridge Stars in Britten’s ‘Curlew River’ The American premiere of Netia Jones’s production of “Curlew River” is part of Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival. === For a parent, the death of a child is unfathomable. There’s nothing worse. The Madwoman, the main character of Britten’s austerely wrenching “ On Thursday night, in the Synod House of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, the British tenor Britten was inspired to write the work when he saw a Noh play during a visit to Japan in 1956. He was deeply impressed by the simplicity of the story, in which the mother was a Japanese noblewoman, as well as by the economy of style. True to Noh tradition, the play was performed by an all-male cast, the actor portraying the mother in a mask. Britten worked with the poet William Plomer to develop an English version of the Noh play. “Curlew River” takes place in a church by a river in the Fenlands of England during medieval times. An abbot and a procession of monks enter, singing a chant-like hymn. Then, led by the Abbot, they present the story of the bereaved mother to the congregation. The Madwoman has come to the banks of the river to ask a ferryman to take her across so she can continue her desperate search. In his way, Britten maintains the ritualized aura of the Noh work. The singers are accompanied by just seven instruments, here played by the impressive musicians of the In her production, Ms. Jones dispenses with masks and includes atmospheric, simple video images, which she designed, along with the costumes. The story is enacted on a platform. On one side, we see the sails and benches of the boat. There is a trace of smoke in the air, suggesting river mists but also chapel incense. At the start, eight male singers from the Britten Sinfonia Voices, along with two boy acolytes, enter, dressed in monks’ robes and chanting the hymn as they walk across a bed of rocks. Then the Abbot, the earthy bass The monks take off their frocks, which, turned inside out, become rough cloaks and workmen’s aprons. The Ferryman (the stentorian baritone Britten was fascinated by Japanese instruments, and hints of Japanese musical style are in this spare-textured score. Still, in its overall musical character, “Curlew River” is like a modern-day medieval liturgical drama. Often, just stray solo lines for horn, flute or viola will interact with the voices. During choral scenes, the music breaks into passages with repetitive percussion riffs and rippling harp arpeggios. Whole stretches are accompanied mostly by strange, sustained organ harmonies. During the crossing, the Ferryman explains that on the other side of the river, this is a day of sad commemoration. A year ago, a young boy was left to die by a brutish man. The people of the village regard the dead boy as a saint. Hearing this story, the Madwoman realizes that this boy was her son. Swaying with dread, Mr. Bostridge’s Madwoman compulsively retied the laces of her son’s shoes, which she carries with her, along with a shirt and a red streamer on a stick, the boy’s toy. In a climactic scene, the Spirit of the Boy, played by Ian Osborne, a boy treble from the St. Thomas Choir School in New York, appears, looking bruised and raggedy, yet angelic. He sings to his mother, telling her they will one day meet in heaven. As performed by Mr. Bostridge in this grimly powerful production, the woman’s peace of mind comes because finally she knows what has happened to him. Now she can grieve without false hope and await her death.