It’s a point of nationalistic pride to know that Canadians have sung the leads in two of the strongest new operas we’ve witnessed so far in this new century: Gerald Finley in John Adams’s Doctor Atomic and Barbara Hannigan in George Benjamin’s Written on Skin.
The three-part, 90-minute opera features Hannigan as Agnès, the oppressed wife of a Medieval aristocrat (Christopher Purves) who falls for a Boy (Bejun Mehta) hired to illuminate some manuscripts. Benjamin conducts the cast (which also includes three angels) and Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
The opera is based on a dark Provençal folk tale of a husband’s grisly revenge on his wife’s affair, but has been given a distinctly postmodern, anachronism-laden twist by librettist Martin Crimp.
As is the current style, the work is through-composed with little overt melody and only glancing references to tonality. But Benjamin is a master at thematic development, and uses a minimum of instruments to achieve the highest dramatic effect.
I couldn’t help thinking of Benjamin Britten as I listened to Written on Skin: there doesn’t seem to be a single extraneous note or instrument anywhere in the score. Everything has been placed in the service of furthering (and heightening) the drama in a tight blend of text and music.
That’s exactly what opera was supposed to be about when it was born 400 years ago.
All of the singers more than live up to this lofty standard. Hannigan, who has to be meek yet determined, downtrodden yet unbowed, has the hardest part of all to play. How she manages to convey all of this without the benefit of stage visuals is remarkable.
The two-CD box comes with two booklets. One contains a variety of background information, the other contains the full libretto.
You can find out more here.
The album also includes a completely unrelated piece by Benjamin: Duet for Piano and Orchestra — a sort of macabre dance commissioned for the 2008 Lucerne festival, and premiered by Pierre-Laurent Aimard and the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Franz Welser-Möst.
This recording features Aimard with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the composer conducting in a live performance the Aix festival had programmed to complement the opera.
There is an awe-inspiring surgical precision to the result. There is a dark tale being told here, as well — so compellingly that a text would be superfluous.
Here are a couple of background videos of Written on Skin made by the Royal Opera ahead of its production:
John Terauds