George Benjamin (b. 1960)
Picture a day like this (2021-2023)
Woman: Marianne Crebassa (mezzo-soprano)
Zabelle: Anna Prohaska (soprano)
Lover 1/Composer: Beate Mordal (soprano)
Lover 2/Composer’s Assistant: Cameron Shahbazi (counter-tenor)
Artisan/Collector: John Brancy (baritone)
Mahler Chamber Orchestra/George Benjamin
rec. 2023, Theatre du Jeu de Paume, Aix-en-Provence, France
Nimbus Records NI8116 [60]
George Benjamin has already proved himself as an excellent composer of opera with Written on Skin (review) already considered one of the great operas of the 21st Century. The current work is certainly very different, less dramatic with the intensity somewhat dialled down, but it shares the same sort of psychological penetration and insight. The story is rather simple: a mother mourns her child and is promised that if she can take a button from the sleeve of someone who is truly happy by the end of the day, her child will be returned to life. She meets two lovers, an artisan, a composer, a collector, and finally a lone woman in a garden. Through these characters, the Woman is taken through the stages of her grief and the piece ends with an ambiguous encounter in a beautiful garden with a woman named Zabelle.
The music is approachable, colourful, and melodic with enough variation in mood and timbre to keep your attention through the rather static drama. Vocal lines are mostly quite singable and Marianne Crebassa in particular does great justice to the music she is given. Her light mezzo voice is steady and attractive and she realises the grief of her character perfectly. John Brancy is also rather effective, making good use of his falsetto, and the other voices, if not particularly attractive or well produced, get behind the drama and music admirably. The only major problems come from the distracting wobbles of Anna Prohaska which distract from some of that profound encounter with Zabelle and rather obscures the shape of some of Benjamin’s vocal lines for the character, especially as they reach upwards beyond the lower part of the voice.
Orchestrally we are given a wide range of colour with plenty of shimmering textures and bell-like sonorities. You get dreamy soundscapes alongside patches of darkness, unease, and the odd moment of violence. From a small ensemble, George Benjamin finds as much variety and fullness as you could want and, of course, for this rather intimate drama the chamber scoring is far more appropriate than a full orchestra would be.
The overall effect is subtle, and it is meant to be; this is not in any way a vivid thriller. It is a ‘quiet’ but effective portrait of grief which caresses the senses rather than bombards them. At only sixty minutes long, with a modest cast, no chorus, and no large orchestra, the opera is decidedly small-scale but offers a world of meaning and plenty of genuinely beautiful music. The recorded sound is very fine with a natural balance between voices and ensemble. The libretto is included in the album’s cover booklet, though its subsequent thickness makes it a little difficult to slide in and out.
Morgan Burroughs
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