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ED2012 3/5 Reviews ED2012 Musical Reviews
Francis Bacon Opera (The Crowe Ensemble)
By Grace Hardy | Published on Friday 31 August 2012
Philosophical, profound, and somewhat surreal, while ‘The Francis Bacon Opera’ borders on pretentious, it somehow pulls it off. More or less. Written by Stephen Crowe, the opera contains a series of scenes exploring the life and work of one of the Twentieth Century’s most controversial painters, using the text from an interview between Bacon and Melvin Bragg in 1986, as they slowly became inebriated with wine. Whilst the music was a bit modern and atonal for my taste, it was fantastically performed and interesting, if not exactly fun, to watch. It also did seem to reflect the persona of Bacon: strange, sensational and spontaneous. So maybe a bit too niche for many, but I still found this odd little piece quite refreshing.
C too, 19-27 Aug, 6.00pm.
tw rating 3/5 | [Grace Hardy]
