George Benjamin (b. 1960)
Picture a day like this (2021-23)
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
English libretto included
Nimbus Records NI8116 [60]

George Benjamin began his career with exquisitely crafted short orchestral works. However, in recent years he has blossomed into an opera composer, and this is his fourth collaboration with the librettist Martin Crimp. Their previous works together were Into the Little Hill (review), Written on Skin (review) and Lessons in Love and Violence (review). All these, together with much else, have been widely performed and also all recorded by Nimbus, whose consistent support has been most impressive.

Picture a day like this is a one act chamber opera for five singers, two of whom double roles, and an orchestra of twenty-two players. The story is a kind of fairy tale or fable. The unnamed Woman has lost her son who died as soon as he had started to speak whole sentences. She is advised that if she can find a happy person and cut a button from their sleeve before night, her child will live. She then has a series of encounters. Two lovers appear to be blissfully in love but then the promiscuity of the man leads to a row between them and rules them out of court. An Artisan had been a happy button-maker but it turns out that he has lost his job and become dependent on medication. A Composer is enjoying great success but feels inadequate. The Collector has wonderful things but is lonely. Finally the Woman meets the mysterious Zabelle, the only character to have a name, who appears to be living in idyllic circumstances with two children, who gives the Woman a button but who turns out to be imaginary. Nevertheless, by the end of the opera the Woman is holding the button. The unspoken implication is that she has achieved her quest and her child will live.

The whole work suggests the Britten of the chamber operas The Rape of Lucrece and The Turn of the Screw, and there are some obvious similarities, notably at the opening, which begins with an almost unaccompanied solo by the Woman. The vocal writing is mostly ariosos but they are very lyrical, and the music is imaginative and haunting, Benjamin getting a great range of expression out of his comparatively small forces. The structure of the work works well, with the five encounters nicely contrasted; it was a brave move to make one of them a composer. The scene with Zabelle, the climax of the work, is really haunting; here also I thought of Britten’s ghost music in The Turn of the Screw. Flora Wilson’s sleeve note suggests that the ending is ambiguous: ‘we are unsure how the Woman relates to Zabelle or what exactly has happened between them or what that encounter might mean for the outcome of the Woman’s quest.’ Benjamin himself says something similar. However, the work itself belies what they say about it: the ending is delicate and does not deal with the recovery of the child, but the successful possession of the button tells us enough.

The cast were not only chosen carefully but the writing was tailored to their individual voices, Benjamin following Mozart in doing so. This is particularly evident in the case of John Brancy, who sings both the Artisan and the Collector and is a baritone who can also sing counter-tenor. All the singers’ diction is clear, even though several of them are not native English speakers. At times the vocal lines overlap, so it is necessary to follow with the libretto given in the booklet. Benjamin himself conducts; in recent years he has done a good deal of conducting, and not only of his own music, and, not surprisingly, he gets good results from his forces. 

The recording was made during the first run of performances by Radio France engineers, who have done a good job. The opera has already had several productions across Europe and in London. It deserves its success and this recording is very welcome.

Stephen Barber

Previous review: Morgan Burroughs (October 2024)

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