Search - Adrian Clarke, Gerald Barry, Diego Masson :: Barry: The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit

Triumph of verve and guile

Remegius Merkelys | Trafalgar Sq., London, UK | 12/06/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This has to rank as one of the punchiest operas ever written. Barry's world is a curious place, the music veering giddily between extremes, by turns ghastly, gaunt, impulsive, battering and bizarre but never rebarbative. Nevertheless, the final duet creates an aura of exquisitely tender beauty. Who cares that not every syllable Meridith Oakes's fantastically salacious libretto can be heard explicitly - the beauty of the work is that it demands one to dip beneath the surface and come to know it. Such, I believe, is the hallmark of a masterpiece.I personally cannot wait for the string of live performances in 2002 in Aldeburgh, the Almeida, Berlin and Birmingham."