ENO • Julian Anderson • Thebans

[Boilk]

Surely one of the highlights of the current opera season is Thebans, a new opera by Julian Anderson.

There are 8 performances in total until 3rd June at the London Coliseum... it runs for about 100 minutes.

Guardian review of premiere here
Times review here

As yet no review has appeared in The Sun.

[grandchant]

A great success judging from those reviews.

Fortunately Radio 3 has not let us down: Mon 26 May at 7.30pm

[bluestateprommer]

One review from the NYT (yes, even an American paper is covering this work) is here, generally favorable, but with some qualifications to the praise:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/arts/music/review-of-julian-andersons-thebans-for-the-english-national-opera.html

Other reviews:

Evening Standard: http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/m...w-9325080.html

Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/m...-inspired.html

If anyone clicks through on the Guardian review and reads the comments, one may note the (Lebrecht-ian?) hatchet job that one commenter tries to pull on the reviewer. That aside, it'll be interested to try to catch on iPlayer later this month.

[grandchant]

There is also an article about the opera (not a review) in the May edition of 'Opera' if you can get hold of it.

[Dave2002]

I wasn't particularly keen to see/hear this, but the excerpts yesterday on R3 have made me rethink. I may give it a try, subject to time and ticket prices.

If anyone else goes, perhaps they could report back.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I was at the first night and it is, in many ways, an admirable effort. A lot of effort has gone into it: a proper director (the excellent Pierre Audi) has been employed, rather than another first-timer without a thorough understanding of the medium; the superb Ed Gardner in the pit; some splendid choral writing. But it suffers from over-ambition. Trying to condense not one, but three Sophocles plays into a single opera doesn't really work. The second and third plays are reversed (for quite convincing reasons), but Antigone runs for just 20 minutes and the final act - which could have been a great Lear-like scene for Oedipus and Antigone, just runs out of steam despite its brevity (30 mins). The death of Oedipus is botched and the opera closes with Antigone almost in mid-sentence. I wanted to like this - Anderson's orchestral writing is inventive and the choral passages are truly wonderful. I just felt that librettist Frank McGuinness and director Pierre Audi didn't entirely do it the justice it deserved.

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[amateur51]

I was at the first night and it is, in many ways, an admirable effort. A lot of effort has gone into it: a proper director (the excellent Pierre Audi) has been employed, rather than another first-timer without a thorough understanding of the medium; the superb Ed Gardner in the pit; some splendid choral writing. But it suffers from over-ambition. Trying to condense not one, but three Sophocles plays into a single opera doesn't really work. The second and third plays are reversed (for quite convincing reasons), but Antigone runs for just 20 minutes and the final act - which could have been a great Lear-like scene for Oedipus and Antigone, just runs out of steam despite its brevity (30 mins). The death of Oedipus is botched and the opera closes with Antigone almost in mid-sentence. I wanted to like this - Anderson's orchestral writing is inventive and the choral passages are truly wonderful. I just felt that librettist Frank McGuinness and director Pierre Audi didn't entirely do it the justice it deserved.

i've just booked a £25 ticket - thanks to all for persuading me.

Mr McGuinness may well be the weak link - living as I do in Kilburn I have seen plenty of his work, some of which has been very good, and some of it has been half-baked, sadly.

[Boilk]

Saw Thebans on the 17th and heartily recommend it, as the music is sumptuous - the norm for Mr. Anderson. It's welcomely concise too, for this opera non-fan.
A couple more performances still to go, although you can catch a broadcast Monday evening, 26th May.

Quotes from the New York Times:

"This is an opera like no other — which makes Mr. Anderson a maverick or a genius; perhaps both."
"Arguably the most spectacular orchestral writing heard in any opera of the past half a century."

[Tevot]

Saw Thebans on the 17th and heartily recommend it, as the music is sumptuous - the norm for Mr. Anderson. It's welcomely concise too, for this opera non-fan.
A couple more performances still to go, although you can catch a broadcast Monday evening, 26th May.

Quotes from the New York Times:

"This is an opera like no other — which makes Mr. Anderson a maverick or a genius; perhaps both."
"Arguably the most spectacular orchestral writing heard in any opera of the past half a century."

Now that certainly whets the appetite... I'll certainly be tuning in w/c May 26th...

[mercia]

here's a man talking to Mr Anderson about it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10pgCUmbWq0

[Belgrove]

I saw this last Friday. Like IGI I wanted to like it, but in truth I can recall little of the music. The compaction of both text and the music makes for a dense 100 minutes, some of which is too terse to make a dramatic impact. The attempted abduction of Antigone by Creon comes and goes in a flash, there is no build-up or sense of climax to what is an outrage. The sylvan setting of the final act is at variance with its staging in some blasted waste-land. It is only in the detective-story-like first act when Oedipus discovers who-dunnit that a dramatic momentum could build. The music is interesting and fitted its purpose but, oxymoronically, I would have to hear and see it more times to judge whether it is worth hearing and seeing more times. I think the NY Times’ assessment of the orchestral writing is hyperbolic. The music is of itself, which is a complement to Mr Anderson, but I was reminded of Britten, probably for no reason other than the (very effective) use of a counter-tenor to provide an other-worldly quality in the roles of Messenger and Theseus. The singing was strong throughout.

[Boilk]

Thanks Belgrove, some valid points I think. I recorded Monday's broadcast, and will listen a few more times.

[underthecountertenor]

I agree with everything that Belgrove has said (although I think compliment, not complement, was meant), and would add only that, while there was a lot to admire (mainly in the orchestral writing), I found absolutely nothing to like or to engage, and I'm afraid I found myself sneaking a look at my neighbour's watch more than once during Act 1 (he left in the first interval, so I couldn't do so during the blessedly shorter, but still long-seeming, Acts 2 and 3). Greek tragedy should not leave one cold, but this absolutely did (by contrast with Birtwistle's Minotaur, for example). I felt that it lacked even an ounce of humanity (something that I've felt before with Anderson's music), and I don't think one can simply blame the libretto and/or the production for that. The performers gave it their very considerable all, but I thought, in the end, that it was a waste of effort and resources.

The balcony was closed on Saturday, and yet there were still swathes of empty seats, and many more after the intervals, even though they were practically giving tickets away. I worry for ENO's already parlous balance sheet.

[Dave2002]

Am just on my way home after the final ENO performance. My neighbour suggested after the first act that this was not an opera, but reasonable as a drama. I felt it did actually get better in the second and third acts, though perhaps that was because I kept on comparing the first act with Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, which is arguably not an opera either, but I feel has better music.The orchestral textures towards the end remind me of another composer, but I've not figured out who yet.

A worthwhile evening on balance, and some people really loved it, and have seen it several times. I think familiarity with various forms of the original plays helps a lot. It could be undigestible for anyone who hasn't already some awareness of the plays or related works.

[underthecountertenor]

I think it was my familiarity with the various forms of the original plays that left me wanting a lot more from the 'opera' Dave!