Tanglewood, Lenox, MA
www.bso.org
August 12, 2013
by Michael J. Moran
The 2013 Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music concluded
with the U.S. premiere of "Written on Skin," the latest opera by
English composer George Benjamin, who also conducted vocal and instrumental
Tanglewood Music Center fellows in this concert performance.
The piece is based on the 13th century Provencal story
"William of Cabestanh – The Eaten Heart," in which a troubador falls
in love with the wife of a king for whom her plays. The opera’s lead character
is an illuminator of manuscripts, called "the Boy," who is taken into
his home by "the Protector" to produce an illustrated book in
celebration of the Protector’s life and good deeds. The other characters are
the Protector’s wife, Agnes, her sister, Marie, and Marie’s husband, John. The
singers portraying the Boy, Marie, and John also play three angels.
The 15 short scenes of the 90-minute work are performed with
only brief pauses between its three acts. The spare and stylized text by
English playwright and previous Benjamin collaborator Martin Crimp clearly set
the action in the distant past, but the sensitive performances by all five cast
members made it easy for a contemporary audience to identify with the
characters’ emotions.
Soprano Lauren Snouffer was gut-wrenching as the tortured
Agnes, and countertenor Augustine Mercante brilliantly rendered the Boy’s
growth from otherworldly innocence to human wisdom. Bass-baritone Evan Hughes
balanced the menacing authority of the Protector with bewilderment in the later
scenes at his wife’s new independence through love of the Boy. Mezzo-soprano
Tammy Coil and tenor Isaiah Bell were versatile and affecting as Marie and
John.
The huge orchestra filled every corner of the Ozawa Hall
stage, with an expanded percussion section that included a glass harmonica,
steel drums, and maracas. The colorful and haunting score both reflected and
moved beyond the influence of Benjamin’s teacher Messiaen, from sensuous and
exotic harmonies to clashing dissonance. He drew a thrilling and flawless
performance from the virtuosic TMC players.
Projections of the text on screens at either side of the
stage completed a stellar presentation that earned multiple standing ovations
from the modest but enthusiastic audience.