On 12 December 1997, in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London, the Havergal Brian Society marked the 25th anniversary of the death of its eponymous composer with a concert performance of the third of his five operas, The Cenci. This recording was made on that occasion.
Cast
Beatrice Cenci Helen Field (soprano)
The Count Cenci David Wilson-Johnson (baritone)
Lucretia Ingveldur Yr Jonsdóttir (contralto)
Cardinal Camillo/An Officer Stuart Kale (tenor)
Orsino/Bernardo Justin Lavender (tenor)
Giacomo/Savella/First Judge/Second Judge Jeffrey Carl (baritone)
Marzio/Third Guest/A Cardinal Nicholas Buxton (tenor)
Olimpio/Colonna/A Guest Devon Harrison (bass)
First Guest/Second Guest Serena Kay (soprano)
The Cenci (1951–52) is Havergal Brian’s operatic realisation of Shelley’s gruesome tale of incest and parricide in Renaissance Italy. The score calls it simply ‘Opera in Eight Scenes’, but it rarely goes in for grand tunes; instead, its dark colours reflect Shelley’s fascination with the struggle between good and evil. Stylistically, it is an unusual but highly effective hybrid: a music-drama focused on the intense delivery of Shelley’s text, with the declamatory style of the vocal lines echoing such recent oratorios as Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex and Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher, and the freewheeling orchestral writing producing something of a vocal symphony.
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