I was carefully trying to avoid making odorous comparisons but actually (IMHO), yes. Both were very good but Allison Bell was just stunning and, as Reiner says, an amazing physical performer too. She could skip for five minutes in a highly alluring Lolita sort of way and THEN throw those high coloratura lines off to perfection without batting an eyelid. 

What I want to see now is a production with her together with Andrew Shore from the Young Vic production, conducted by Edward Gardner and directed by ... me.

And Allison Bell lived up to expectations in Love and Other Demons too. She really is alarmingly good. Indeed the whole thing was very strongly cast: Nathan Gunn and Robert Brubaker both giving their all and some lovely stuff from Felicity Palmer and Jean Rigby in smaller roles.

But ... I'm afraid Richard's "Yes, but what was it all for?" question did keep hovering over the proceedings (which doesn't happen so often for me). Some lovely sounds from the pit, sighing, wistful combinations of instruments from an orchestra that was divided spatially into two (or possibly three?) sections. Moments of great beauty to hang on to and savour as they passed. But on a first hearing anyway, and to my fallible ears, I just couldn't make it add up to very much more than that. Dramatically, I'm afraid something of a disappointment with 'atmosphere' replacing much of the urgent richness of the novel.

Sorry to be so tepid. It's not my normal shtick. I did keep willing it to get better. I'd love to be told I've got it wrong.  And the performances did make it worthwhile going.

[Oh, and it's getting an outing on R3 on 11 October. No mention that I can see of a telly broadcast. Is that all the BBC gets for co-commissioning it?]   

Just been reading through this thread while listening to the opera (between bursts of work on what is becoming a very interesting score, well for me at least!).
So I'm interested to know who went in the end, and what did they think?

Er... crikey.

Hang on. Having some trouble working out what you're saying.

You don't think Die Soldaten is of sufficiently high standard? (In which case we shall have to agree to disagree, which is of course fine.)

You do like it but don't want to hear a rehash of it? (Fair enough.)

Something else?

No rush.

Ooh. Controversial.
I do think that Die Soldaten is a wonderful opera, but, for me at least, it represents the cumulation of the realist/verismo trend in opera.
How on earth do you follow it?
To my ear, Eötvös's soundworld was located quite firmly in the same Austro-Germanic tradition as Zimmermann and Berg, and as far as I could tell without seeing it, the dramaturgy was located there too.

It strikes me repeatedly that much of the new work presented in the opera houses of the UK treats the developments in theatre of the last 100 years as if it hadn't happened. When you study the history of opera, it's almost impossible to ignore the fact that opera doesn't work and this is where its strength is located. Practically every generation it seems to reach a state of calcification, suffers major critique, falls in favour and then is reinvented for a new generation. In our own time, we are tending to treat opera as a continuity, and have really preserved the 19th century model of opera despite works like Punch and Judy which do seek to reinvent the genre (but only by taking it apart and exposing its innards: arguably this isn't an approach that can sustain development but, like previous developments, is one that should be succeeded by new takes on what opera is or can be). How many times have you read a critic's column on a new opera which does something slightly unusual, and seen the phrase 'not a real opera' when it means 'not an opera in the Grand Tradition'?

I'm getting off on a little bit of a rant here so I should probably stop. I thought that Love and Other Demons was a convincing work, and I enjoyed hearing it (though there were moments which sounded so obvious that I giggled). It was a bit hysterical throughout (fair enough, that was what the story seems to demand, but it was a sort of hysteria bottled c. 1913?) which grated on my nerves, but I did love the sound of the soprano singing like a bird. I have to say that Britten couldn't have been further from my mind, but then I don't really know many Britten operas. I've heard most of them a few times on the radio and have seen Grimes live but that's about it.

Come now, Tantris! One little piece of subjective reportage counts as nothing when in the context of so much interesting and objective observation in hh's post, surely?

I must listen to the broadcast. hh, not sure I agree with you on the implication that once a thing has been done well once, there's no point in doing it (well) again...  But you're right about opera critics.

I'm sorry if that little phrase upset you Tantris. I do try hard to not bring too many value judgements to a work (certainly not supercilious ones). I did think hard about the subject before posting my reply, and put off writing it for a few hours before I had worked out what I wanted to say. I'd ask you to overlook my foibles in this case.
There was a specific incident I was thinking of, when a character says something like 'Don't touch her necklaces!', immediately followed by Sievra screaming. In the context of a purely audio broadcast, I felt like I could predict exactly what was going to happen next, including the timing. It was just a small moment (there were a few more but that one sticks in my mind) and I certainly wouldn't have mentioned it in the context of a serious review, but this is after all a web forum, and I've always permitted myself a little frivolity. I'd be interested to read your reaction to the rest of my post, because I think that the future of opera is really worth discussing.

And, just on a personal note, I'm really enjoying reading inconstant sol. Keep up the good work there!


That's not quite what I meant, but I do take the point that at the end of the day the only thing that matters is 'Does this work as an opera?' (whatever we take 'opera' to mean here). And I do actually agree with that point! For me to make any judgement over whether or not it works would require me to see the production (at least one!). I hoped merely to give an indication of my own views on the matter and open it up to debate, which seems to have worked.

Given the availability of recordings, revivals and now DVDs, we're in a bit of an odd situation as far as new opera is concerned. If I ever grow up enough to be asked to write one, I don't really know what I would do. I certainly think though that we're situated at a time and place where something different can be attempted.