0783Orpheus_BirtwistleMask

Harrison Birtwistle, The Mask of Orpheus, opera, first performed May 1986, English National Opera, London. Libretto by Peter Zinovieff, 1974 - 77.

recording: Royal Festival Hall, 11-12 April 1996 NMC 3050 3 CDs.

"The Mask of Orpheus is undoubtedly a central work in Birtwistle's output, and all his subsequent pieces for sage and concert hall demand to be evaluated in its light. But also, increasingly, it has come to be recognized as a key work in the development of music since the Second World War, a work that, like no other, pushed at the boundaries of what was possible in lyrical theatre. In its imaginative fusion of music, song, drama, myth, mime and electronics, it has become a beacon for younger composers, and the object of wide critical and scholarly attention." J. Cross, Harrison Birtwistle: the Mask of Orpheus (Ashgate 2009), 1.