Opera no 165
Turnage: Greek
Soloists
The Greek Ensemble
Richard Bernas
I found this hard going and not really to my taste. Turnage has a reputation for writing harsh hard-edged music with lots of percussion and saxophones. To some extent it is Birtwistle taken to another degree. But there are also strong roots in popular culture, from rock to musical hall. I have to say that I found the more lyrical music much easier to digest than the relentless heavy passages.
But I didn’t find it easy to get into the right frame to appreciate the opera. I think that is was the overdone mock cockney accents and faux working class accents (complete with copious four-letter words) which seemed to me quite false - especially performed with singers who, it seemed to me, were putting on an act rather than genuinely being part of that milieu. To me the whole thing seemed rather dated, which is odd for one of the most recently operas in the project . Perhaps it works well on stage as a piece of music theatre, but as a listening experience is was not for me.
