Peter Maxwell Davies' Taverner, based on the life of the 16th century English composer, stands in the tradition of operas like Pfitzner's Palestrina and Hindemith's Mathis der Maler that grapple with the topic of the artist's role in society, and it's good to finally have it recorded. The libretto, by the composer, mixes a fairly straightforward narrative of a pivotal episode in Taverner's life with elaborately grotesque metaphorical actions, to surreal and often perplexing effect. The story and the music are luridly, ...
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Peter Maxwell Davies' Taverner, based on the life of the 16th century English composer, stands in the tradition of operas like Pfitzner's Palestrina and Hindemith's Mathis der Maler that grapple with the topic of the artist's role in society, and it's good to finally have it recorded. The libretto, by the composer, mixes a fairly straightforward narrative of a pivotal episode in Taverner's life with elaborately grotesque metaphorical actions, to surreal and often perplexing effect. The story and the music are luridly, exaggeratedly expressionistic, but Davies seems utterly detached in his viewpoint. Taverner's conversion to Lutheranism is the main issue of the opera, but Davies' point of view about it, musically and narratively, is opaque. Was it a good thing? A bad thing? The audience is left guessing. The opera gathers momentum as it progresses. After a 70-minute first act that is largely rough going, much of it made up of jagged musical disjunctions taken at a slow or moderate tempo, Davies seems to...
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