British composer Edward Rushton's chamber opera The Shops deals broadly and philosophically with the obsessive behavior of collectors, specifically with a collector who steals rare postage stamps from museum exhibitions. The libretto, by Dagny Gioulami, is smart and clever in its details, but it's narratively confusing and doesn't add up to much of an engaging drama. Rushton's atonal, scattered score doesn't give the material the kind of oomph needed to overcome the deficiencies of an undramatic libretto. His vocal writing ...
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British composer Edward Rushton's chamber opera The Shops deals broadly and philosophically with the obsessive behavior of collectors, specifically with a collector who steals rare postage stamps from museum exhibitions. The libretto, by Dagny Gioulami, is smart and clever in its details, but it's narratively confusing and doesn't add up to much of an engaging drama. Rushton's atonal, scattered score doesn't give the material the kind of oomph needed to overcome the deficiencies of an undramatic libretto. His vocal writing shows off the voices nicely (an attribute all too often missing in new operas), but the text setting is randomly meandering and largely undifferentiated from scene to scene and from character to character. An exception is the perky, dance-like number in which the cast steps out of character and addresses the audience directly, raising philosophical questions about the ethics of personal ownership. Rushton's scoring for a very odd but effective chamber ensemble is inventive and...
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Add this copy of Shops to cart. $26.88, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by NMC Recordings.
Add this copy of Edward Rushton: the Shops to cart. $36.68, new condition, Sold by Revaluation Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Exeter, DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2008 by Nmc Records.
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