Opera houses feel, quite rightly, that they are in duty
bound to mount new works; if they didn't they would not get subsidies. But what
about the quality of the new works performed? Maw, Maazel, Caligula, Turnage, Birtwistle?
Not a great deal of musical worth there for the majority of true music lovers.
And now we have five performances of Written on Skin by
George Benjamin (b.1960) a co-commission and production with Covent Garden and
no less than four other opera houses, Aix-en-Provence, Amsterdam, Toulouse and
Florence, a rare honour and outlook for a composer (and a % for his agent!).
The text is by Martin Crimp and the plot is about a book which you might think
a bit weird for an opera. It is based on an old legend from Occitan (yes, the
same name Provence as the firm that nowadays makes intriguing scents.)
The protagonists are: a so-called Protector, a wealthy
landowner addicted to purity and violence who considers his wife Agnes 'his
property' (but she doesn't) – thoroughly non P.C. but the action takes place
800 years ago. There is a chorus of Angels and a Boy (on stage he looked
middle-aged and sang like a counter-tenor). There is quite a lot of sexual
shenanigans; the Boy gets murdered and Agnes suicides. The text is not very
appealing and the music matches it. The score does not frighten the horses but
seems to have no particular character, quite violent at times (not always
parallel with the words) music neither didactic, systematic, nor melodic or
pleasure seeking, e.g. neither serial nor cereal.
The action was busy, supers dressing and undressing the
landowner frequently, much scuttling round the bed. I asked my companion why
the supers on the first floor kept on moving about in slow motion. She said
'that’s modern, you know'. Good set by Vivki Mortimer and the production seemed
to fit the action which was frequently punctuated by light changes to indicate
a new scene. There was no interval; the opera was in three parts, 15 scenes,
two hours duration. The audience applauded generously (as they always do these
days, my booing was not audible).
Cast: the Protector – Christopher Pruves, the Boy –
Bejun Mehta, Agnes – Barbara Hannigan; the composer conducted.
1 comment:
Concerning your last sentence: Yes, people nowadays always applaud generously, even when one can be sure they haven't enjoyed the performance. I remember a "first world performance" here in Paris when my - and surely everybody's - ears hurt and people have nevertheless applauded, even the "composer". I wonder what should be performed nowadays to have a Rite of the Spring riot.
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