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FULL The Shadow of the Wave (Tom Floyd) London 2012
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: The Shadow of the Wave
- Composer: Floyd Tom
- Libretto: David Spittle Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Riverside Studio, London, UK, Tete a Tete Opera Festival
- Recorded: August 16, 2012
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Roberto Abate, Owain Browne, Justin Kim, Sarah Reddin, Dorothea Herbert
- Conductor: Tom Floyd
- Orchestra:
- Stage Director: Deborah Cohen
- Stage Designer: Vicki Male
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Tête à Tête
- Date Published: 2012
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
In claustrophobic proximity two couples find themselves in a conflict of madness, depression, waking dreams and desire. Alamar is a painter plagued by visions of a dark Surrealism. On a stay with his lover’s married sister, tension rises until both love and sanity become the casualties of a psychological drama.
Review
“This Opera is a very well-made piece, with many features in common with the well-made plays that used to be common in the West End… The music of Shadow is attractive, mellifluous, continuous. There are two couples — sophisticated, articulate, heavy drinkers: one couple is an artist and tortured, and his wife; the other her neurotic sister and her businessman husband. As they get into various kinds of upset, they are accompanied by a 14-piece orchestra. There is also a mysterious figure, Anima (sung by Justin Kim) who watches the proceedings and periodically sings eerily about them; in some ways he is the most striking feature of the work.
The music of Shadow is attractive, mellifluous, continuous. As usual, I couldn’t resist thinking which better-known composers it was like, and the nearest I came was Tippett, but that may be because of the subject-matter. Though the orchestra played alongside the action, it never drowned it, and the singers, mostly articulating with a clarity I’ve always hoped for, gave maximum value to David Spittle’s fluent drama. The role of Scarlett, the seductive and unbalanced sister-in-law, was impressively well performed in all respects by Dorothea Herbert; she alone had a lengthy and demanding solo, and made me want to see her in something I know, though I’d have been happy to see Shadow again if it hadn’t, as Tête à Tête operas do, had to give way to the next show.
The Spectator ****