<<  -- 5 --  Roderic Dunnett    DRAMATIC TABLEAUX

Birtwistle's score, which is of uncommon beauty, characterised by dark woodwind and viola-topped strings (the composer dispenses with violins entirely) seems to run on like an unbroken skein, weaving in and out like the smooth flowing of time. When it is checked by the apostles' arrival and departure, Birtwistle, the master supreme of musical tickings and clock mechanisms, conjures up some of the most mesmerising patterns imaginable, to inveigle his apostles down the long path to the present. At times I found myself dozing off, lulled by sweet noises such as Caliban would not have disdained. When I reawoke, the noises always sounded much the same as when my reverie began. What I had missed musically, as in life, seemed to be the smooth-stepped passage of time.

The entire male cast moved well and sang gloriously (a mid-stage duet for the two alto Jameses and paired trombones for Blaser's intercut, modernised Lord's Prayer especially caught the ear). Elgar Howarth conducted a tip-top ensemble.

Martin Duncan's production of Sir Harrison Birtwistle's opera The Last Supper continues its tour to Plymouth (Saturday 25 November), Oxford (Thursday 30 November) and Stoke-on-Trent (Thursday 7 December). A Glyndebourne co-commission with the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin and the Royal Festival Hall, it will be revived at Glyndebourne main house next summer.