Interludes and Aria

Description

Interludes and Aria from "Lessons in Love and Violence" (2024) is a 15-minute montage of excerpts for soprano and orchestra from�Benjamin and Crimp's celebrated 2018 opera. Premiered by Sir Simon Rattle, Barbara Hannigan, and the London Symphony Orchestra,�the seven movements have at their centre an aria sung by the queen Isabel, in which she dissolves a priceless treasure in vinegar for an audience of her starving subjects. Purely instrumental highlights include an explosive toccata, somber nocturne, punctuated with tolling�gongs, and chorale that erupts into an orchestral conflagration. A master of orchestral color, Benjamin's inclusion of the cimbalom gives�the score an unearthly character.�Orchestral parts are available to hire from Faber Music.Benjamin's score combines the ravishing and the visceral in a way that only he can.Evening Standard (Barry Millington) 13 January 2025 *****Moody, dissonant, flamboyantly orchestrated and with a coiled tension that finally exploded like a volcano...The Times (Richard Morrison) 10 January 2025 *****