Tonight will see the third performance at the Metropolitan Opera of The Exterminating Angel, the latest triumph of the English composer Thomas Adès. At last Thursday's premiere, I was gripped by the psychological intensity of the drama and astonished by the ingenuity of Adès’s biting score. From the New York Classical Review:

His imagination begins even before the downbeat: rather than the customary eight-minute bell, an eerie chime summons the audience into the theater, growing ever more insistent as the curtain-time approaches. As the guests sleep between Acts I and II, a blaring, percussive military march accompanies a Rothko-like apparition, a pale wash of green that moves across the front curtain.

Read my full review here.

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