BD: Would you have done the Peter Grimes differently if it had been just for the television?
Moshinsky: I should imagine so, but one of the good things about the production on the television as we’ve done it is that you don’t have to worry about the nature of realism, how real the village is, and how real the sea is. You are told that this was recorded at the Royal Opera House, and it’s what was available for the performance you’re putting on. Whereas, if you did it for television — which they did do previously with Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten conducting — they took the whole crew to Aldeburgh, and the more realistic it was, the more ordinary the story became. One of the strengths of Peter Grimes is the fact that it’s actually kind of semi-realistic, and rather poetical. Everything needs to be alluded to, and it’s like the play Equus. Once you start putting in real horses, as they did in the film, it loses. So I think it gains from actually being taken away from its real setting. If you do Aïda in Egypt at the Pyramids, I think it would become the most banal opera in the world! [Both laugh] There’s a theatrical tension between the subject matter because opera is not real. It’s a symbolic act.
BD: It is the suspension of disbelief.
Moshinsky: Yes, and I’m sure if you filmed La Bohème in Paris, and you tried to make it look as if they actually were there, it would be much less exciting than using it as a theatrical form. So, my own sense is that it’s better not to translate it [he doesn’t mean the language], because you lose some of it.
BD: You’ve cleared the stage on the Peter Grimes. Is that as far as you can go, or is there anything beyond that?
Moshinsky: No, it was a more positive act than just clearing the stage. It was a way of interpreting the opera. It was actually saying that it isn’t only about a fisherman. It’s about a whole series of poetical problems. It comes from a poem, and the most important thing was an atmosphere of desolation. We went to Aldeburgh and had a look, and it’s the most unbeautiful place in the world! It’s just a shingle beach, with lots of stones, gray sky, and that’s it! It’s absolutely flat and desolate. So we thought we had to get that on stage. We had little light houses, and the village, and cardboard English pubs and things like Mrs. Miniver! We just stripped it in order to try to capture a bleak and desolate atmosphere, and threw all the interpretation onto the company of singers. This ensemble gave a very dynamic feel to it, and made the issues come to life.
BD: Is that what the gramophone record comes from, as well as the TV?
Moshinsky: That’s right, but I was saying that the success was built on something that was essentially simple. It was spectacular to look at because of its clarity, but it wasn’t overloaded with decoration. Opera is sometimes overloaded with cardboard reality.
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