The Mask of Orpheus. ENO

[Orphical]

Jean Paul Gaultier meets Stanley Kubrick with a sprinkle of Boy George.
Thrilling musically but adding further layers to an already crowded work risks complete overload. And yet I think it might just have worked.
Daniel Kramer directs and Daniel Lismore is costume designer. Once seen never forgotten. So good to see Birtwistle and Zinovieff take a bow and be greeted with a standing ovation.

[Joseph K]

Jean Paul Gaultier meets Stanley Kubrick with a sprinkle of Boy George.
Thrilling musically but adding further layers to an already crowded work risks complete overload. And yet I think it might just have worked.
Daniel Kramer directs and Daniel Lismore is costume designer. Once seen never forgotten. So good to see Birtwistle and Zinovieff take a bow and be greeted with a standing ovation.

Agreed on all counts, especially about the Kubrick element - specifically, A Clockwork Orange, I thought, what with the aestheticized sexual violence and the set design, some of the symbolism too. It was quite overwhelming, so much going on - I knew I'd love the music, but the whole stylised choreographic drama of it escapes the imagination when all one has to go on in the CDs and booklet. I think it's a work that takes quite a bit of effort, and the words, having the surtitles (the libretto is absent from the CD set) also was a new component to add to this heady mix, and these were similarly gnomic and obscure, but often quite poetic. All in all it was a great mix of ritual symbolism, that repays study. Should be released on DVD IMO.

Also spotted the Extinction Rebellion symbol at the curtain call.

[Orphical]

Agreed on all counts, especially about the Kubrick element - specifically, A Clockwork Orange, I thought, what with the aestheticized sexual violence and the set design, some of the symbolism too. It was quite overwhelming, so much going on - I knew I'd love the music, but the whole stylised choreographic drama of it escapes the imagination when all one has to go on in the CDs and booklet. I think it's a work that takes quite a bit of effort, and the words, having the surtitles (the libretto is absent from the CD set) also was a new component to add to this heady mix, and these were similarly gnomic and obscure, but often quite poetic. All in all it was a great mix of ritual symbolism, that repays study. Should be released on DVD IMO.

Also spotted the Extinction Rebellion symbol at the curtain call.

. Missed the Extinction Rebellion symbol

[Boilk]

So good to see Birtwistle and Zinovieff take a bow and be greeted with a standing ovation.

Perhaps there should have been a cardboard cut-out of Bary Anderson too, I doubt there'd be as much reverence for this work (let alone that 1987 Grawemeyer Award) without the electronic elements.

The production went down like a lead balloon in the Guardian review, and comments there are predictably quite divided.

And it's headlined as a "physical and mental ordeal" over at the Telegraph, albeit with "incontrovertible magnificence"!

[Master Jacques]

I'm looking forward to it in the light of thoughtful comments here - everyone in the crit. business at least seems to agree, that it's a far funnier show than Emma Rice's appallingly self-righteous perversion of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld at ENO last month! Only the Glass to go now...

[Joseph K]

Perhaps there should have been a cardboard cut-out of Bary Anderson too, I doubt there'd be as much reverence for this work (let alone that 1987 Grawemeyer Award) without the electronic elements.

The production went down like a lead balloon in the Guardian review, and comments there are predictably quite divided.

And it's headlined as a "physical and mental ordeal" over at the Telegraph, albeit with "incontrovertible magnificence"!

I'd say, having read the Guardian review, that, perhaps some of the costumes are gaudy, but this was like an added grotesque aspect that didn't strike me at the time as inappropriate - it's not an austere work, and the gaudy elements seem nicely counterpointed with quite expressive choreographic display courtesy of the depiction of Orpheus and Eurydice The Hero/Heroine - considered mimes, and I wondered how you'd categorise/consider their impressive acting/dancing/ballet...

[LHC]

I'd say, having read the Guardian review, that, perhaps some of the costumes are gaudy, but this was like an added grotesque aspect that didn't strike me at the time as inappropriate - it's not an austere work, and the gaudy elements seem nicely counterpointed with quite expressive choreographic display courtesy of the depiction of Orpheus and Eurydice The Hero/Heroine - considered mimes, and I wondered how you'd categorise/consider their impressive acting/dancing/ballet...

The Arts Desk wasn’t particularly impressed either:

“the multiple stories with their action replays, which need absolute rigour, get smothered in what's supposed to be a savage parade but looks, thanks to costume designer Daniel Lismore's glittering excess, more like a Swarovski-themed runway pageant in RuPaul's Drag Race”

I do remember the premiere production, which I saw several times.

[Boilk]

I'd say, having read the Guardian review, that, perhaps some of the costumes are gaudy, but this was like an added grotesque aspect that didn't strike me at the time as inappropriate - it's not an austere work, and the gaudy elements seem nicely counterpointed with quite expressive choreographic display courtesy of the depiction of Orpheus and Eurydice The Hero/Heroine - considered mimes, and I wondered how you'd categorise/consider their impressive acting/dancing/ballet...

Having swotted up beforehand (CD listening) I was still pleasantly surprised hearing it all in the flesh Friday evening. It reinforced the idea for me that much of the opera's success lies in the characteristically 'dry' and somewhat wooden instrumental writing being nicely counterpointed by the glistening and almost organic-like spontaneity of Anderson's electronics. That said, these two distinct soundworlds remained too far apart (perhaps excepting the closing scene of Act III) to really convincingly gel. IMHO a bold, intriguing but somewhat flawed experiment.

Pre-concert talk (and post-performance stage bows this time) did not feature Birtwistle. Apparently he is "very busy".

[Felix the Gnat]

I desperately wanted the gaudy stage presence not to be an issue for me, I'm usually highly tolerant in such matters having seen some pretty challenging Puccini and G&S to name two, down the years. But I'm afraid I found it a little distracting (but no more than that).

Anyway, my first attendance for this work, I missed the previous outings. Always an enjoyable listen at home and the music came across particularly well on Friday. For me, one of the most successful uses of electronic music in 'classical' music. Although I find some of the more 'metallic' sounding electronics (eg the two passing cloud sections in act 1 and the third allegorical flower of reason in act 3) to be rather 'clunky' and incongruent. I wonder when this work will be given an outing again.

[AlanE]

I was expecting the Friday 25th October performance to be a bit of a trial, having read the Guardian review (and having attended a funeral in the afternoon), but the performance was engrossing throughout - the occasionally gross behaviour on stage included. There were too many references, perhaps, from the Mexican Day of the Dead to the Bride of Frankenstein, and I can imagine something rather more austere working just as effectively, but the aural and visual overload suited my mood, and was appropriate to the musical complexity, and the compliment of total audience silence at the end was well deserved. (That happened at the funeral too; for the Brahms Intermezzo op. 117 no. 1). ENO really should have arranged for this to have been recorded though; as a subsidised organisation they have a duty to reach a wide audience, not just those of us lucky enough to get to the live performances. By the way, I noticed a washboard among the instruments in the orchestra pit (though I couldn't make out its sound out during the performance). I can't find any reference to Sir Harrison being a skiffle enthusiast in his early career?

[Serial_Apologist]

I was expecting the Friday 25th October performance to be a bit of a trial, having read the Guardian review (and having attended a funeral in the afternoon), but the performance was engrossing throughout - the occasionally gross behaviour on stage included. There were too many references, perhaps, from the Mexican Day of the Dead to the Bride of Frankenstein, and I can imagine something rather more austere working just as effectively, but the aural and visual overload suited my mood, and was appropriate to the musical complexity, and the compliment of total audience silence at the end was well deserved. (That happened at the funeral too; for the Brahms Intermezzo op. 117 no. 1). ENO really should have arranged for this to have been recorded though; as a subsidised organisation they have a duty to reach a wide audience, not just those of us lucky enough to get to the live performances. By the way, I noticed a washboard among the instruments in the orchestra pit (though I couldn't make out its sound out during the performance). I can't find any reference to Sir Harrison being a skiffle enthusiast in his early career?

He didn't include any skiffle on his Desert Island Discs feature, but it woudn't surprise me!

[Master Jacques]

ENO really should have arranged for this to have been recorded though; as a subsidised organisation they have a duty to reach a wide audience, not just those of us lucky enough to get to the live performances.

Quite right: but I am sure that had our friends at the BBC showed interest in broadcasting the production, ENO would have been only too delighted. I hope I am wrong, but I haven't heard that any performances are due to be recorded by Radio 3. There is certainly no sign from the schedules for October/November that the BBC is prepared to spend a red cent promoting operas by living composers. The finger I'm afraid needs to be pointed firmly at Alan Davey, R3's controller, rather than ENO.

[Ein Heldenleben]

They’ve just played a short excerpt on COTW. Must have been extraordinary in the theatre....
Didn’t realise ENO also did the premiere in 1986. Things were very different then...

[AlanE]

Quite right: but I am sure that had our friends at the BBC showed interest in broadcasting the production, ENO would have been only too delighted. I hope I am wrong, but I haven't heard that any performances are due to be recorded by Radio 3. There is certainly no sign from the schedules for October/November that the BBC is prepared to spend a red cent promoting operas by living composers. The finger I'm afraid needs to be pointed firmly at Alan Davey, R3's controller, rather than ENO.

I agree, Master Jacques; Radio 3 might well have anticipated the importance of this production and arranged a broadcast, but I had in mind a video recording, which ENO appear to be reluctant to engage with in their productions. In some respects I can appreciate their problem; the usual approach by the likes of the Met, Covent Garden and Glyndebourne seems to be live cinema broadcasts, followed by DVDs/Blu Rays, and ENO's productions in English translation have a limited market in that respect. But in the case of The Mask of Orpheus, written mostly in English, it might be a viable option, and as I suggested, a duty, to preserve the performance?

[Master Jacques]

Unfortunately, the expense of such broadcasts goes considerably beyond the technical costs of recording. Radio 3 'anticipated' the importance of Opera North's 'Greek Passion', to be broadcast next week, as well as Werther from the ROH a fortnight ago. The station has little more to spend on programming than it had ten years ago and such operas as just mentioned make a large dent in the budget.

These two operas are both by long-dead composers, and in the case of Massenet there are no royalties to pay. They both have "classic" status (even the Martinu can boast at least three commercial CD recordings) and - although you are right to say they "make a large dent in the budget" - it's instructive that Radio 3 chooses these relatively uncontroversial "safe bets", rather than The Mask of Orpheus (or many other operas by living composers) for broadcast. It's not as if the principal singers or chorus & orchestra at ENO were going to cost them markedly more to pay, than the international cast in Werther at the Royal Opera.

I imagine that relatively speaking Radio 3 has indeed less to spend on live broadcasts than it did ten years ago, but their priorities have gone horribly wrong. They evidently prefer to pay the Gershwin estate large chunks of money for ceaseless broadcasts of Rhapsody in Blue, and indulge in starry relays of popular operatic repertoire, rather than point funds towards living composers. And this in the end puts a huge question mark over Radio 3's claim to being a public, artistic utility.