OLIVER LEITH - LAST DAYS [2LP]

Platoon

£30.58

Format: 2 x LP
Catalogue No.: PLAT22471V
Barcode: 3760396022976
Release Date: 06 Sep 2024
Genre: Experimental/Electronic

Oliver Leith’s critically-acclaimed chamber opera Last Days premiered in a sold-out run of performances at London’s Royal Opera House in October 2022. In this new studio recording, released on Platoon in June 2024, the stellar cast return to their original roles and the 12 Ensemble led by Jack Sheen anchor Leith’s tightly wrought and deeply imaginative score. Based on the cult film Last Days written and directed by Gus Van Sant, this new opera from composer Oliver Leith and librettist Matt Copson plunges into the torment that created a modern myth, as we witness the undoing of Blake, whose self-destructive spiral lies at the heart of the 90 minute opera.

QUOTES:

Oliver Leith’s score is a sonic tapestry interweaving delicate instrumental effects, “found” sounds, and a cappella vocal timbres... The work is finely wrought, particularly as rendered here by the 12 Ensemble string orchestra under Jack Sheen’s direction. - The Independent

Leith’s score, brilliantly rendered by 12 Ensemble under Jack Sheen, is starkly original. - ‘Bachtrack’

Last Days is Leith’s first opera; I don’t think it’ll be his last - Evening Standard

Leith’s music doesn’t seek to impose itself upon the subject: rather, it is as if he has discovered the ideal subject for it to expand upon. - The Stage

‘Jack Sheen conducted the slick 12 Ensemble…balancing the push-pull sternness and rapture of a score that surely has a real future ahead’ - Opera

TRACKLIST:

DISC 1 - SIDE A
A1. Prologue
A2. Prologue, Scene 1: Blake in the Wilderness
A3. Prologue, Scene 2: Home
A4. Prologue, Scene 3: Wisdom of Birds
A5. Act 1, Scene 1: Trip Calls
A6. Act 1, Scene 2: A Package
A7. Act 1, Scene 3: Blake Listens to Opera

SIDE B
B1. Act 1, Scene 4: ConfusionA1. Confusion
B2. Act 1, Scene 5: Friberg and Friberg
B3. Act 1, Scene 6: He Said
B4. Act 1, Scene 7: Chorus of Things
B5. Act 1, Scene 8: The Magician Story

DISC 2 – SIDE C

C1. Act 2, Scene 1: Trip Calls Again
C2. Act 2, Scene 2: His Understudy
C3. Act 2, Scene 3: The Party
C4. Act 2, Scene 4: The Super-fan
C5. Act 2, Scene 5: Blake cleans the stage
C6. Act 3, Scene 1: Blake in the Wilderness
C7. Act 3, Scene 2: Trip Calls Again Again
C8. Act 3, Scene 3: P.I. in the Wilderness
C9. Act 3, Scene 4: The Magic Trick

SIDE D
D1. Act 3, Scene 5: Intervention
D2. Act 3, Scene 6: Abandoning Blake
D3. Act 3, Scene 7: Voyage
D4. Act 3, Scene 8: Death Part I
D5. Act 3, Scene 8b: Death Part II