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An Eclectic Mix
Mieczyslaw Weinberg's 'The Portrait' at Opera North,
experienced by MIKE WHEELER
The slowly growing interest in Polish/Russian composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996) has seen recordings of his orchestral and chamber music, but has only recently begun directing attention to his seven operas.
The Portrait, the last but one, dating from 1980, is based on a story by Gogol and, as staged by Opera North (Theatre Royal, Nottingham, UK, 24 February 2011), captures all the writer's mastery of the comic-grotesque. Chartkov, a poor, struggling painter, experiences a sudden change of fortune when a painting he buys with his last kopek unexpectedly sheds money from its frame...
Copyright © 9 March 2011
Mike Wheeler,
Derby UK
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