You would presume wrongly, RT. R3 is broadcasting all the notes of an opera by one of Britain's most important living composers. It is largely up to Mr Pappano whether they are all in the right order.

A pedant writes:

They say it will be broadcast on Opera on 3 at the end of May, that would make it Saturday 31st, would it not? Mind you, it is Radio 3, so perhaps the end of May has been moved forward to the 24th.

Well, first of all the frivolous bit - I managed to get autographs off Antonio Pappano (my favourite conductor) and John Tomlinson. Birtwistle was there, but by the time I'd finished chatting to Pappano and Tomlinson about the RING, he'd buggered off somewhere, so no chance to get HIS autograph!

The reason it's called THE MINOTAUR rather than, for instance, Theseus and Ariadne, is that it does focus on the suffering of a being who is half-human, half beast. When he/it is asleep, apparently he/it has dreams and is articulate, but awake can only roar.....which Tomlinson does very effectively we're told! It's divided into 13 scenes, with a break after the seventh. The main thing I gathered from this presentation is that it focusses on the consciousness of the Minotaur, and it was written for John Tomlinson.
I loved GAWAIN - and JT said if that was the case, I'd love THE MINOTAUR just as much. I haven't in the past found Birtwistle's music particularly inacessible.....OK, it's a bit 'challenging', but that's what I like about it!!!
There was also a presentation about the staging by Alison Chitty and Stephen Langridge - who is the son of Philip Langridge, I've often wondered about that! Philip Langridge was there too, and Stephen looks exactly like him!

Thanks for that report, operacat. My copy of the libretto arrived from B&H this morning, so I shall have a read through this evening, as well as catch up on the podcast from Saturday's Music Matters, which I completely forgot about at the weekend.

There was a ten page report on The Minotaur in this month's Opera magazine

I gather David Harsent has pared down the plot to its essential details; no Minos, no Daedalus, no fleeing of the island for Theseus and Ariadne, as the action ends with the Minotaur's death. It seems to focus very much on the triangle of characters at the middle, with Theseus and the Minotaur linked as half-brothers. Theseus is not presented as a hero.

Apparently, the Minotaur was originally not to have no words to sing, just being 'a big, brutal presence', but on learning that John Tomlinson would be taking on the role, it was expanded, with the Minotaur's dreams being given words. It's a very interesting article, and explains how Birtwistle used symbolism in Picasso's drawings of the Minotaur as inspiration.

Thanks for that YouTube link - very interesting. (Although why no music? Boo!)

That looks a good pub, NB.  I wonder if member Underdown is familiar with it - it must be just down the road from him.

Talking of pubs, in a manner which could not be more on-topic...

The Globe, on Bow Street, after curtain down on the first night of The Minotaur?