I liked it very much as well. It's not my favourite Britten opera; unlike some of the critics I don't mind so much that the argument is onesided, but the foregone conclusion means there isn't enough dramatic tension.
I agree with Daniel that the production was extremely effective. I liked the handheld camera work - a bit like the Blair Witch Project in realtime, and quite scary in places. There were a couple of directorial interventions at the end which struck me as heavy-handed but I won't say what they were in case anyone is going to the remaining performances (but I would love to know how one of them was done!).
Jacques Imbrailo played Owen Wingrave with complete conviction and sang beautifully - AND looked about young enough for the role. Some of the other voices were rather strident but I guess that's written into the parts (which may be another reason why the piece isn't as beguiling as some of Britten's others). Toby Spence's recording of the ballad was the loveliest I've heard (out of a total of three, but still).
I thought Colin Matthews' chamber-isation was fine and with fewer instruments playing I noticed some stuff in it that I hadn't heard when listening to the original - can't remember what it was now though, will have to go back to the CDs and try and jog my memory.
Daniel, I was sandwiched between two friends so it definitely wasn't me harrassing you, not that time anyway
