マイケル・ティペット: 歌劇《ニュー・イヤー》

ティペットの歌劇《ニュー・イヤー》、初の商業録音が誕生!

作曲家や指揮者として20世紀のイギリスで大きな功績を挙げたマイケル・ティペットのオペラで、1989年に初演された《ニュー・イヤー》の初となる商業録音が誕生。2024年4月にグラスゴーにてセミ・ステージ形式で上演されたコンサートの録音です。合唱指揮者としての実績も持ち、有名な《われらが時代の子》をはじめオラトリオやオペラなど声楽作品も多く手掛けたティペットの作品の中でも、まだあまり注目されていないものがこのような豪華なアーティストの演奏でリリースされるのは大いに歓迎されることでしょう。
東京エムプラス

New Year is Michael Tippetts final opera, premiered in 1989 in Houston but not recorded until this 2024 performance, released by the NMC label the following year. It was recorded preceding the live presentation of the opera. The premiere aspect may be part of the reason the album rose onto classical best-seller charts in the spring of 2025, but it may also be that Tippett has his fans and that they correctly surmised they would be satisfied with this outing. The libretto, as usual, is by Tippett himself, and it pertains to nothing less than a romance between a flying saucer pilot and a woman trapped in her apartment in a present-day place called Terror Town. She is right to be afraid, for New Years revelers trap and attack her Rastafarian brother, but the saucers computer expert brings them under control, and they sing Auld Lang Syne. Love gives the heroine, Jo Ann, the strength to emerge from her hideaway. All this gives Tippett the chance to trot out the various popular influences he weaves into his basically atonal language, including a bit of rock guitar. One is mostly likely to enjoy this if one already enjoys Tippett, but the composer would have liked this performance had he been able to hear it while still alive. Conductor Martyn Brabbins imparts the right adventure-like pace to the proceedings, and several of the singers, including Rhian Lois as Jo Ann, are very strong. The NMC label is not known for its sound engineering, but here, they connect solidly, bringing out the layers of Tippetts music well in the City Halls in Glasgow. ~ James Manheim