Poul Ruders

The Thirteenth Child

Sarah Shafer, Tamara Mumford, Ashraf Sewailam, Alasdair Kent, David Portillo, Alex Rosen; Bridge Academy Singers; Odense Symphony Orchestra/benjamin Schwartz, David Starobin

Bridge BRIDGE 9527 77:50 mins

For his fifth opera, Danish composer

Poul Ruders has turned to the Grimms’ lesser-known fairytale, The Twelve Princes. Adapted by American librettists Becky and David Starobin (the latter co-conductor with Benjamin Schwartz in this recording), the story pits the evil Drokan against the ‘courage and devotion’ of the 13th child, Lyra, who finds and restores her brothers after the family is torn apart by his poisoning of her father against them. The family may be royal but, à la King Lear, their faults and moral failings – and capacity for love and redemption – are universally human.

Musically and dramatically it’s an idiosyncratic piece that eschews character development, leaping quirkily between simple diatonicism and complex chromaticism over two, episodic acts. Vocal and orchestral leitmotifs help to pinpoint action and contrasting mood, yet the characters sing throughout in similarly paced arioso lines, which are not always helpfully prominent above the orchestra.

However, the cast is uniformly strong and the Bridge Academy Singers and Odense Symphony Orchestra impressively committed. While this studio recording feels a somewhat patchwork construction, it nonetheless suggests the potential for further narrative shaping and character interplay. Much of the orchestral writing is striking – in particular dissonant passages in which Bartók’s Bluebeard comes chillingly to mind. Steph Power PERFORMANCE ★★★ RECORDING ★★★