Dr Dee

Last night I had the great pleasure to see Dr Dee at the ENO, by Damon Albarn and Rufus Norris. Moved to tears by 10 minutes in, purely by the music, (I am a sucker for kora, multi-layered vocal harmonies and old english instruments, all of which feature heavily), it continued to be a wonderful evening of music and incredible visuals, with only a couple of minutes where the tunes lagged. Ther is a trailer of the music and visuals on the linked page. Dramatically, it didn't quite hold together, as one was not quite aware of the heights Dee reached before he fell from grace cursed as a Faust-like figure. For me it was a joy to hear unmangled, English, clear voices where I could hear every word, as I am not a natural fan of classical operatic, vibrato-rich singing. Except from the two singers who were delivering in the more classical style, who did however had exquisite tone, we could follow even when the chorus was 20 voices strong. Albarn himself sung beautifully with a richness I had never noticed before, as I haven't been into his various bands' music that much before now. If you are around next week, have the time and money, (£29 gets the cheapest seats) go see this. I am listening to the CD of the music now, and it is great though it is sadly not a recording of the live ENO performance. I hear the BBC may record it for BBC4, hope so... A few pictures of the curtain call (Wallsingham towering on stilts at 12 feet by this point), the raven-wrangler on the stage 'roof', and my view of the domed ceiling of the Colliseum.