So another rather interesting chamber opera from Europe has come my way. It’s Like Flesh; music by Sivan Eldar and English language libretto by Cordelia Lynn. It’s 80 minutes long and uses three soloists, a chorus of six and an eight piece instrumental group plus electronics. It’s sort of a modern ecological take on Ovid’s idea of a woman turning into a tree. Here the woman is unhappily married to the Forester who buys into the basic idea that Nature exists to serve humans and is a willing accomplice in environmental degradation. There’s also a female student who is studying the forest and is discovering much that isn’t covered in the classroom. The transformation takes place against a back drop of destructive wild fires and the wanton felling of woodland to make way for concrete. Given the subject matter, the libretto is really quite poetic. Continue reading
Like Flesh
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Regular readers will know I’m something of a Peter Grimes completist so I was interested to get my hands on a recording previously unheard by me (one of only two such!). It’s a 1992 recording made in Watford Town Hall and, as far as I know, was not made in conjunction with a stage run. The Grimes is Anthony Rolfe Johnson with Thomas Allen as Balstrode and Felicity Lott as Ellen Orford. There’s also a young Simon Keenleyside as Ned Keene. Bernard Haitink conducts with Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House. 
My review
operaramblings 