I was curious about Scottish Opera’s new recording of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Utopia, Limited because it’s a G&S I’ve not heard before. It’s a late work and was less successful than its better known predecessors. The plot concerns an island in the “South Seas” where the king is so taken with all things English that he sends his daughter to Cambridge and has her return with a bevy of English worthies including Captain Joseph Corcoran KCB. Eventually the king enacts all kinds of reforms including turning the entire population into limited liability companies. They revolt but the day is saved by Princess Zara pointing out that with party government all the reforms will inevitably be repealed after the next election. Continue reading
Utopia, Limited
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Linda Buckley is an Irish composer whose music combines, among other things, traditional Irish vocals, classical instruments, of more or less conventional form, and electronics to create an entirely unique sound world. This new album starts off with the most substantial and, to my mind, most interesting, piece; Ó Íochtar Mara (From Ocean’s Floor). The four movements combine Iarla Ó Lionáird singing in the traditional sean nós style with string quartet (Crash Ensemble) and Buckley herself on electronics. Each movement sets a poem in Irish with an accompaniment that is quite sparse and never overwhelms the vocalist. It’s mostly electronic drones with the strings kicking in in similar vein. It’s very beautiful and quite haunting. The vocals are sung with a great sense of the proper style and it’s an object lesson in how to combine folk vocals with classical instruments without making it sound like Victorian parlour music.
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