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Elizabeth Maconchy - The Sofa - The Departure (USED)

£4.95

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Used - Good

Label: Chandos

Cat No: CHAN10508

Barcode: 0095115150825

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Opera

Release Year: 2009

This is a used product

Contents

Artists

Independent Opera Orchestra

Conductor

Dominic Wheeler

Works

Maconchy, Elizabeth

The Departure
The Sofa

Artists

Independent Opera Orchestra

Conductor

Dominic Wheeler

About

"… My first reaction, on seeing Independent Opera’s double bill of operas by Elizabeth Maconchy was ‘why have I not seen these operas before’, and my second was ‘when can I see them again", wrote Music and Vision.

English composer Elizabeth Maconchy’s one-act operas The Sofa and The Departure were first performed by Independent Opera at Sadler's Wells in 2007. No-one predicted that this double-bill of unknown operas would cause such a stir, but they proved a highlight in the London performance scene. Geoffrey Norris of the Daily Telegraph commented, ‘These two productions showed the bold Independent Opera at its best, with conductor Dominic Wheeler and a compact instrumental group wholly at one with the cast and with the contrasting moods that the operas evoke…

These wonderfully surreal and yet contrasting works were composed between 1956 and 1961 and premiered at Sadler's Wells. The Departure here receives its premiere recording and The Sofa makes a welcome return to disc.

The Sofa is a light-headed work, adapted by Ursula Vaughan Williams and involving a dissolute young rake who is punished by his aristocratic grandmother for his fast living and predatory womanizing by being turned into a sofa. The only hope of being turned back into man, she declares, is when a couple makes love on top of him. Matters come to a head when his current girlfriend is successfully seduced by another man on the sofa!

The Departure, by contrast, is a tragic and unsettling piece, a psychological exploration of bereavement.

Casts:
The Sofa:
- Nicholas Sharratt (tenor)
- Sarah Tynan (soprano)
- George von Bergen (baritone)
- Josephine Thorpe (mezzo-soprano)
- Alinka Kozari (soprano)
- Anna Leese (soprano)
- Patricia Orr (mezzo-soprano)
- Patrick Ashcroft (tenor)

The Departure:
- Louise Poole (mezzo-soprano)
- Håkon Vramsmo (baritone)

Track Listing

TrackTitleDurationArtists
The Sofa, Comic Opera In One Act Ursula Vaughan Williams
1 Nr. 1 Ah, My Sweet Consolation (Dominic, Monique)
2 Nr. 2 How Light The Grace, The Delicate Twist (Dominic, Monique)
3 Nr. 3 Dominic, Casimir, Marie-Joseph, St. Just, Balthasar (Großmutter)
4 Nr. 4 This Time My Patience Cannot Still Endure (Grandmother, Dominic)
5 Nr. 5 My Mother Says All Girls Grow Sad And Languish For Love (Lucille, Yolanda, Laura, 2 junge Männer)
6 Nr. 6 Lucille, Ah, Lucille? (Suitor, Lucille, Dominic)
7 Nr. 7 Ha, Ha, Ha! Where#s Dominic? (Ensemble, Gäste, Dominic)
8 Nr. 8 Come And Dance (Ensemble, Monique, Edward, Dominic)
9 Nr. 9 What's Happened? What's Happened? Has Anything Happened? (Ensemble, Dominic, Edward)
10 10 Oh What An Intriguing, Fascinating Situation Ensemble, Edward, Lucille, Laura, Yolande, Dominic, Monique)
11 Nr. 11 Have They All Gone? (Dominic, Monique)
The Departure, Opera In One Act Anne Ridler
12 Nr. 1 I Shall Never Be Ready In Time (Julia, Ensemble)
13 Nr. 2 Weightless Beyond The Burning Margin Of Our Air (Julia, Ensemble)
14 Nr. 3 But What Has Happened? (Julia)
15 Nr. 4 Julia, Are You Trying To Speak To Me? (Mark, Julia, Ensemble)
16 Nr. 5 Where Is That Death They Paint (Julia, Ensemble)
17 Nr. 6 Oh, Why Did We Leave The House That Day? (Julia, Mark)
18 Nr. 7 Don't Leave Me (Mark, Julia)
19 Nr. 8 But Our Child Lives Still (Mark, Julia)
20 Nr. 9 Then Do Not Leave Me (Mark, Julia, Ensemble)
21 Nr. 10 But I Hear Nothing! Not A Voice, Not A Word (Mark, Julia, Ensemble)

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