Thomas Adès: The Tempest - Limited Edition: Opera: Score

An Opera in Three Acts-Adès?s third opera The Exterminating Angel premiered at the Salzburg Festival in July 2016. Based on Luis Buñuel?s surrealist classic El ángel exterminador the opera sees a collection of society?s grandees inexplicably trapped in a room.The libretto adapted from the original Buñuel-Alcoriza screenplay by the composer together with the director Tom Cairns brilliantly captures their descent into anarchy. Featuring a jaw-dropping 15 principals (who remain on stage for the majority of the piece) The Exterminating Angel is a true ensemble opera and the skill with which Adès delineates the many intricacies and undercurrents present over itsdensely-packed span (just under two hours plus interval) is breathtaking. Like the shipwrecked characters of The Tempest the cast of this new opera are held in a state of entrapment and dramatic stasis. Like the glittering high-society world of Powder Her Face the dinner party guests are denizens of a nightmarish world of aristocratic pretension.

Opera in 3 acts Text: Meredith Oakes after Shakespeare-The opera The Tempest is inspired by Shakespeareâ??s play rather than literally being based on every aspect of it. There are key images from the play as well as new material. From among the playâ??s many themes and possible interpretations the opera focusses on the difficulty and the necessity of mercy. The libretto uses contemporary vocabulary. Its lines are short rhythmic and rhymed or semi-rhymed echoing Shakespeareâ??s strophic songs more than his blank verse. This choice reflects the playâ??s magical ritual childlike elements and acknowledges the traditional power of incantation in song. The operatic Prospero is the passionately vengeful man seen in the play more than the wise disconnected actor also seen there. Despite his near-omnipotence he finds things out as he goes along and experiences contradictory emotions to the end. Please note: Full Score and Parts are rental material. Please contact hire@fabermusic.com

Thomas Adès made these four Purcell realisations for medium voice and piano for recitals with the countertenor Iestyn Davies in 2012 and 2017. Four Songs is comprised of two of Purcellâ??s Tempest songs â??Come Unto these Yellow Sandsâ?? and â??Full Fathom Fiveâ?? alongside the much-loved â??An Evening Hymnâ?? and â??By Beauteous Softnessâ??. The whole collection lasts around 12 minutes. Adès described Purcellâ??s manner of setting English text as â??magnificentâ?? remarking that â??the way that emotion the rhythm of the words is rendered into music is incomparably natural and powerful.â?? All of these qualities are brought to the fore in these realisations which should prove an invaluableaddition to the repertoire.