Param Vir: Snatched By The Gods/Broken Strings

Param is a friend of John Psathas, and I met him briefly as a composition student. John had mentioned that he wrote musicals and operas, but I hadn't been able to find any of those until last night. He wrote these operas in the 1990's, but they were recently re-released. Given my current project, this is very much the right stuff to be listening to. It's available on Naxos, which can be accessed via Wellington City Libraries. https://divineartrecords.com/recording/param-vir-snatched-by-the-gods-broken-strings-an-opera-double-bill/ - Snatched By The Gods is a Tagore adaptation, with strong echoes of Curlew River. The mix of singing and speech is largely tilted towards song, but the Boatman's lines break up the monotony. I was reading along with the libretto, and that's what I'd expect during The Perfumed Garden. The harmonic language is dense, and the voices are put through their paces. The repetition of text ticked me off a wee bit, but that's an unfair assumption unless I've seen a live production. - Broken Strings is an adaptation of a Buddhist proverb, and has a killer premise. The play opens with a brief dialogue scene: the King is asking his court fools what to play, and they tell him of a new play, which is called To Play Before The King.

The King takes his seat, and they play the story as opera. All the great musicians in the land have come before three judges to earn the right to play before the king. A young, headstrong musician is the penultimate contestant, and he plays with lots of technique but no heart.

He stays to watch the final contestant: an old man that can conjure miracles from the instrument. As he plays, each of the strings break, but the playing only becomes more and more intense. Each string has a spirit: Elephant, Peacock, Fish. They add to the drama with some eerie tunes and some spooky ethereal music. The King gets invested in the story, and cries out partway through. The message of the opera is in these words from the King's epilogue: 'Ever with less, the old man said. Ever with less. Must less sustain me too? Then even less? Less, gladden me? Then ever less. And less? Till I must make whatever song is mine .. from nothing? The song I am ..: from nothing?' Hans Werner Henze commissioned it, and there are some nods to his music. - Overall: There aren't many tunes in these pieces, but as drama they're very good.