Maddest opera is a meltdown must-see

English composer Peter Maxwell Davies was a radical spirit in 1969, exemplified in his Eight Songs for a Mad King — a stark, confrontational dramatisation of King George III’s mental meltdown. It’s a half-hour virtuoso turn for a baritone who can hurtle from Handel to hysterics in a flickering second.

The performance marked the launch of director Thomas de Mallet Burgess’ 2020 NZ Opera season. Robert Tucker was the King, unleashing soul and psyche, around and on a lengthy board table; a stressed corporate leader, surrounded by us — an audience of stake/ shareholders.

This classic operatic mad scene was fired by six fine players from Stroma New Music Ensemble, whose encyclopedic assemblage of special techniques complemented Tucker’s mood swings and lurches.

Hats off to flautist Luca Manghi for delivering cool, unruffled birdsong while his space was being seriously invaded by the raving monarch and also to young conductor Timothy Carpenter, keeping the madhouse on (and occasional off) the beat.

Davies searched out the sounds of extreme duress in this score and there were many frissons and quite a few jolts, as Tucker yowled against the wail of high-pitched clarinet or catapulted a decorous classical aria into shrieking mayhem.

Yet throughout this sometimes harsh cabaret, the uber-energetic baritone projected an intense humanity until he sloped offstage, muttering.

With five more performances, this is a mustsee.