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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Birtwistle's early opera 1967) and satirical view on modern life is definately not one for kids, and is probably not one for most adults either! But if you are alread
y familiar with the post-war british avant garde scene then this opera will be very easy to digest, if not, I would recommend checking out some of Birtwistle's intrumental peices to let yourself know what you're in for.
I have a feeling that this opera is going to stand the test of time and with recent performances from the ENO getting marvelous reviews it is starting to get the recognition it deserves. Think of it in terms of Strauss's Elektra, but of the late 20th Century and on a much smaller scale but with the same shocking effect. Spiky percussion, eccentric warblings combined with moments of great lyricism and humour keep you enthralled through out. If you look beyond the first layer of farcical expressionism you will find a brilliantly focused and structured peice of music theatre that transcends any contemporary labels. I find this work much more rewarding than the over long and ever so slightly over rated Mask of Orpheus.
In a nutshell, if you love opera and have worked your way through Strauss, Janacek and britten and are looking for something new then this is an essential purchase. Birtwistle is in my humble opinion the greatest british composer since britten and needs to be celebrated as he is getting on now! Marvelous.
y familiar with the post-war british avant garde scene then this opera will be very easy to digest, if not, I would recommend checking out some of Birtwistle's intrumental peices to let yourself know what you're in for.
I have a feeling that this opera is going to stand the test of time and with recent performances from the ENO getting marvelous reviews it is starting to get the recognition it deserves. Think of it in terms of Strauss's Elektra, but of the late 20th Century and on a much smaller scale but with the same shocking effect. Spiky percussion, eccentric warblings combined with moments of great lyricism and humour keep you enthralled through out. If you look beyond the first layer of farcical expressionism you will find a brilliantly focused and structured peice of music theatre that transcends any contemporary labels. I find this work much more rewarding than the over long and ever so slightly over rated Mask of Orpheus.
In a nutshell, if you love opera and have worked your way through Strauss, Janacek and britten and are looking for something new then this is an essential purchase. Birtwistle is in my humble opinion the greatest british composer since britten and needs to be celebrated as he is getting on now! Marvelous.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Packs a punch
25 Sep 2010
Format:Audio CD
This is a welcome re-issue of the only (studio) recording of Birtwistle's first great international opera "scandal"--(he has had many since.) Presentational rather than realistic, PUNCH AND JUDY is comprised of dozens of short pieces, all repeated in some form or another, "telling a story" based on the English puppets Punch and Judy. The music, which is in perfect partnership with the words, is violent, harsh, funny, mean-spirited, sometimes beautiful, and relentless in its march to a "happy" ending. Many of the first audience members were horrified when the first "number" turned out to be an aria for Punch where he murders his own baby. (It's sickly funny.) He proceeds to murder everyone else in the cast before being saved from hanging at the last minute (as in THE BEGGAR'S OPERA or the Weill/Brecht re-interpretation THE THREE-PENNY OPERA.) This is not music for the unadventurous, but it is very powerful in its "faux-mythical" trappings, as if you were watching some ur-version of the anonymous tropes that would become the traditional puppet shows. Being "puppets", the characters experience death as just another ritual. No one even leaves the stage. It is quite brilliant and unlike any opera I have ever heard, including others by Birtwistle. The dynamic singing, much of it in extreme registers, could hardly be bettered. Yes, the English is not set to be heard word-for-word, as in, say THE TURN OF THE SCREW, but even miscommunication is a purposeful part of the whole package. The booklet has a wonderful program note by the librettist, and the complete libretto is included for anyone bothered by the angular word settings. Going from this to THE MASK OF ORPHEUS, his next opera, is to leave one distinctive musical world for another. But no matter how many operas he writes, nothing will replace PUNCH for blatant audacity and unflinching modernity. No one who claims to love opera in all its myriad glory can do without this.
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