Word: curlews
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...BRITTEN: CURLEW RIVER (London). On a sojourn to the Orient in 1956, the composer was delighted by Japanese No plays, and one of them, Sumidagawa, is the inspiration for this one-act opera. It tells of a madwoman searching for her son, and her encounter with a boatman who explains his tragic death and shows her where he is buried. Scored for five male soloists, a chorus of nine and an orchestra of seven, Curlew River is a fragile work indeed, more tone poem than opera. Yet in a sedate, masquelike way, it has considerable melodic charm...
...fittingly reverent fashion, began the U.S. premiere last week of Benjamin Britten's Curlew River at the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, N.Y. Styled as "a parable for church performance," the hour-long piece is based on a medieval No drama, Sumidagawa. It is a simple tale of a demented mother in search of her lost child, and it unfolds like a morality play in slow motion, all the more compelling for the stark economy of its movement and action...
Strange Wailings. Curlew River could not have had a more ideal setting. The leafy courtyard, surrounded by the 40-room Italian villa on the 180 wooded acres of the Caramoor estate, brims with old-world flavor. Many of the arched columns and the massive iron gate are treasures brought from Europe. The rooms opening off the courtyard and beyond are filled with one of the world's richest private collections of Renaissance art: 15th century French tapestries, hand-carved ceilings, and a commode from the palace of Frederick the Great. Evening concerts are held in a 1,500-seat...
...Tours, uses as an auditorium a massive barn built by monks in 1220. The excellent acoustics of the barn's oak and chestnut structure will set off performances by Russian Pianist Sviatoslav Richter, Moscow's Borodin Quartet, and London's Royal Opera singing Britten's Curlew River...
...east coast of England. The occasion was the 17th Aldeburgh Music Festival, where right from the start the main attraction has always been Townsman Britten. The premiere was just about to begin when a thunderstorm knocked out the electricity. When light was restored, Britten unfolded his hour-long opera, Curlew River, a moving parable patterned after an English medieval mystery play, but with strong No overtones in its echoes of Sumidagawa, its incantatory music and its austere dramatic styling. Did it mark a new "Oriental period" for Britten? Press and public agreed that Curlew River may not be a major...