McPhee was responsible for introducing Britten to the Balinese music that influenced such works by the British composer as The Prince of the Pagodas, Curlew River, and Death in Venice.
This theme is common to almost all of Britten's dramatic works: Peter Grimes, Billy Budd, The Turn of the Screw and Owen Wingrave all focus on an outsider protagonist.
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The libretto is by William Plomer, who translated the setting of the original into a Christian parable, set in early medieval times near the fictional Curlew River, in the fenlands of East Anglia.
He went on to direct several plays, including the Play of Daniel and Curlew River in 1968 and The Forrigan Reel in 1970.
The Noh play Sumida-gawa, which the British composer Benjamin Britten saw while visiting Japan in 1956, inspired him to compose Curlew River (1964), a dramatic work based on the story.
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Neill was a personal friend of Benjamin Britten and played principal horn for the Aldeburgh Festival, taking part in the première and first recordings of the Church Parables Curlew River, The Burning Fiery Furnace and The Prodigal Son.