Michael Nyman: Opera
is a set that includes two previously released albums,
Man and Boy: Dada
and
Love Counts
. The music is vintage
Nyman
, heavily influenced by minimalist textures and repetitive patterns. In each scene of the operas, he tends to set up a groove, usually thickly orchestrated, that continues for a while, sometimes throughout the scene. With this approach, the music doesn't always follow the dramatic arc of the scene with the subtlety that characterizes the most compelling operatic writing. It works best in
, but in
, the approach is less successful.
can write beautifully for the voice, as he demonstrates in cycles like
Lust Songs
Six Celan Songs
, but in the operas, the text setting can be astonishingly poor, with misplaced accents and a lack of coherent connection between the text and vocal lines, which are vaguely lyrical, but wandering, melodically blocky, and graceless.
is a fictionalized account of the end of Dada artist
Kurt Schwitters
' life, when he was living in poverty in London after the Second World War. It's appropriate that, while
Michael Hastings
' engaging libretto follows a comprehensible narrative, it has enough Dada elements to leave listeners occasionally scratching their heads, but in a good way. The story concerns
Schwitters
' relationship with a boy (with whom he is brought together by a shared obsession with bus tickets), and the boy's mother. The music is often effective -- driving, lively, and colorful -- and the vividness with which the characters are drawn makes the opera an engaging emotional experience. There's one terrific, memorable tune, a sentimental tango that appears with gratifying frequency throughout the opera. The piece receives a fine performance based on a production by
Almeida Opera
, featuring the
Michael Nyman Band
, conducted by
Paul McGrath
. Tenor
John Graham-Hill
, soprano
Vivian Tierney
, and boy soprano
William Sheldon
sing passionately and embody the characters with conviction.
The recording of the two-character opera
also comes from a production by the
. It tells the sentimental story of two unlikely lovers: a math teacher coming out of a physically abusive marriage and an illiterate, innumerate boxer.
generically responds to the mood of each scene -- earnest, conflicted, silly, or romantic -- but the music is mostly bland and without much nuance.
's repetitive style is rhythmically propulsive, but that energy isn't sufficient to sustain interest for two hours because the musical content is so pedestrian and awkwardly inflected, and the orchestration is unimaginative and lacking in variety. The
gives the piece a terrific production, though. Singers
Helen Williams
Andrew Slater
make the most of what they're given, singing with passion, clarity, and excellent diction; the individuality they bring to their roles makes us care about the characters. On both albums, the
generally seems too loud, but otherwise the sound quality is top-notch.~Stephen Eddins