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LIEBESLIED/MY SUICIDES Lover Natalie Raybould The ICA has a too-brief three nights run of Liebeslied/My Suicides, a haunting 70 mins chamber opera to a fairly inscrutable, semi-abstract libretto, developed in a Genesis Opera Project. Conceived for for three characters, an artist, a writer and a lover, this is not a gloomy evening (suicide scarcely figures). The backdrop is a series of beautifully projected and somewhat equivocal photographs of urban scenes, 'the dark corners of everydayness, the urban forgotten wasteland'. In this setting, the Writer explores her intimacy with the Lover by absorbing and articulating the images of the Artist; I reproduce (in black and white) one of the more striking, to which the Lover sings 'I see the wall of the house through a golden filter'. The ensemble of string quintet, oboe and clarinet, with two pianos one each side of the stage, combines very effectively with the soprano, mezzo and tenor voices. Composer Paul Clark's musical idiom is hard to pin down, and to my ears greatly original. It is accessible-modernist, the two pianos occasionally evoking Messiaen, but I felt that Clark has a distinctive voice of his own. His through-composed music reflects the action, but the score is at the same time one that would stand perfectly well on its own (as would another visually-driven recent chamber opera, Birtwistle's The Io Passion). Lest it disappear, Liebeslied/My Suicides should be captured on CD by one of the smaller record companies. The performances and economical staging are all excellent and I am sorry to see that the production seems not yet scheduled to tour? The programme 'book' is unusual and collectable, consisting of ten unbound cards which contains commentary by Vivienne Gaskin and all the pictures, plus the whole text; not possible to try to absorb it all in the few minutes before the show began. Of another opera n London (Rameau's Les Paladins given three airings at the Barbican) the Observer says "if you didn't see it you missed one of the shows of the year"; the same may be said of this one, likewise allowed only three performances. I couldn't get a ticket so was privileged to catch Liebeslied/My Suicides instead. Its last performance was completely booked out; if it were a longer run, I'd definitely have seen it again. Has it been videoed? * Rut Blees Luxemburg is a photographer whose work recasts dead space as psychic entry points into the city, memory and desire. Her recent collection, Liebeslied/My Suicides, a collaboration with the philosopher Alexander Garcia Duttman, is published by Black Dog Publishing, London. See also Helen Elsom's review of Liebeslied/My Suicides and Les Paladins for Concerto Net |
Institute of Contemporary Arts, London 22 October 2004 
During the opera 'the identities, conspiracies and desires of the protagonists become increasingly entangled' - the atmosphere is ever-elusive yet compelling; think of Bluebeard's Castle, or Verklarte Nacht perhaps.