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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Simply put, Thomas Adès's chamber opera Powder Her Face will likely be one of the strongest, most compelling pieces of contemporary music you've heard in a long while. The libretto, at once tragic and savagely funny, is by the acclaimed young English novelist Philip Hensher and addresses a resonantly scandalous topic: the glamour-drenched life and downfall of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, whose divorce trial in the 1950s set benchmark lows for publicising someone's sex life. Adès's score is a bona fide masterpiece, combining a broad palette of styles and influences, from tango and Cole Porter to Berg's Lulu and mordant atonality, all scored with brilliant invention for an ensemble of 15 musicians (here conducted by the composer). But Adès, born in 1971, succeeds where others have tumbled: he's a true man of the theatre, and there's no pastiche in the music, which rises above the level of collage (except for one purposely inserted camp tune) and instead coheres into a seamless, thrusting, witty, highly dramatic whole. The four-member cast, led by Jill Gomez as the Duchess, is right on target. Valdine Anderson portrays a series of mocking antagonists (given high-wire acrobatic vocalisms) who precipitate the downfall, while Niall Morris and Roger Bryson bring engaging variety to their multiple roles as the male figures in the Duchess's world. An event not to be missed. --Pierre Ruhe
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I've got to disagree with `maestromouth' - this is the most important addition to modern opera since Death in Venice.,
By richard.md.scott@hotmail.co.uk (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Adès: Powder Her Face (Audio CD)
Here Thomas Adès has presented us with a masterpiece. This opera is a cruelly human piece about the sexual exploits and proceeding trial of the Duchess of Argyll.
The composer and librettist (Philip Hensher) have created an incredibly moving work that explores the Duchess' unquenchable thirst for sex; the pitiless mockery of the various staff at the Hotel she's staying in; the unforgiving sentence of the Judge; the shameless hypocrisy of the jealous, condemning Duke; the overwhelming humiliation the Duchess suffers when she is finally asked to leave and tries to hold onto the last scraps of dignity she has. The wonderful score Adès has written for this piece of incredible drama works perfectly. His compositional voice is fantastically versatile - combining Weill and Berg and his own extraordinarily original style. This is a soberingly, profoundly, brutally beautiful work written by the most inspired and intelligent composer of the last 30 years.
8 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Real Music,
By
This review is from: Adès: Powder Her Face (Audio CD)
With new music it is difficult to be sure: only repeat hearings will confirm early impressions. But my initial impression is that this is music worth getting to know better. I look forward to the time when I can say that I am familiar with this music. It is really interesting.
11 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Long-winded and cruel,
This review is from: Adès: Powder Her Face (Audio CD)
POWDER HER FACE has received a succes de scandale for many things, notably the infamous fellatio scene. That is perhaps the only bright moment in a protracted chamber opera that pares away any of the inherent humanity and dignity of the characters. The libretto is extremely wordy (a fault of many operas written today), and Ades' text-setting falls short of inspired or cogent. I found the piece awfully long and insincere - much of the opera's sound depends upon a sense of parody and mockery rather than actual meaningful human communication. While all the performers rise to Ades' virtuoso demands, the writing doesn't seem to offer many rewards once one passes all the athletic hurdles. Ades seems to be reliant upon juxtaposition throughout the piece, placing a tango here and a pop song there while only intermittently revealing his own harsh compositional voice. That voice revels in being "off-the-wall" - which may entertain briefly, but in the end, what remains but a bitter taste? To these ears, he's only copying what Peter Maxwell Davies did years ago (only better). Save your money - POWDER HER FACE isn't a major addition to modern opera.
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