The 70th Edinburgh International Festival’s opera programme continues with another concert performance enthusiastically received – the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, conducted by Edward Gardner in Peter Grimes. The choir was augmented by the Edvard Greig Kor, students from the Royal Northern College of Music and the Choir of the Collegiûm Mûsicûm

In Britten’s opera of small-town prejudice, the chorus is a character in its own right, and the impeccable diction left us in no doubt what the Borough gossips were saying and thinking – even when, for the hymn-singing, they turned their backs on the audience, and were conducted by chorus-master.

Amongst a fine cast, Catherine Wyn-Rogers was the laudanum-addled, crime-obsessed, curtain-twitching widow, Mrs Sedley, shaking with withdrawal symptoms or anger that her ‘observations’ are not being taken seriously. Susan Bickley was a down-to-earth, unflappable Auntie, running her pub, usually drying a glass and her two nieces were pert.  As Peter’s ‘intended’ Ellen Orford, Erin Wall’s voice soared with her hopes for the future and Peter’s new start. She was warm and friendly with the boy, sharp with the judgemental townsfolk. The women’s quartet was excellent, as was the ensemble singing throughout. \

The men were dressed in jeans, apart from the lawyer Swallow (Andrew Greenan) and the rector Adams (James Gilchrist). Gilchrist achieved just the right level of unctuousness while Ned Keene the pharmacist (Marcus Farnsworth) clearly had Jack-the-Laddish tendencies. The Methodist preacher Bob Boles (Robert Murray) worked himself up into self-righteous fury and impressively fell his alcohol-soaked length. Barnaby Rea’s Hobson was convincing as the generally helpful carrier. As Captain Balstrode, Christopher Purves’  voice oozed sympathy and understanding, his own sea-going experience giving insight to Peter’s problems, their Act 1 duet particularly effective.

But the night belonged to Stuart Skelton as Peter Grimes. The dramatic range of his voice teased every possible nuance from words and music. His Peter was clearly suffering head pain, whether physical or a sensitivity to sounds – particularly the gossiping voices. Although he obviously had anger issues, he was tender to the boy, remembering to show restraint. His excitement at the sea boiling with fish was infectious. He carefully payed out the rope to let the boy down the cliff but, distracted by the noise of the approaching posse, loosens his grip on the rope; the strings’ glissando was haunting. He was a man in shock when told by a sensible Balstrode to sail out of sight and sink the boat.