Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990) - Trouble in Tahiti

Recorded live on18th March 2010. Duration 46 minutes TROUBLE IN TAHITI opera in one act - seven scenes libretto by the composer UK premiere of reduced orchestration by Garth Sunderland Trouble in Tahiti is a brilliant pastiche of pop music and melodrama, showing Leonard Bernstein at his most bitingly ironic, and yet, at the same time, most personal and sincere. Ranging from the jingle-like crooning of the vocal trio to major, show-stopping serio-comic arias for the main characters Sam and Dinah, the music pulls out every pop-cultural 1950s stop, while never losing sight of the genuine pathos of its characters: a couple in a troubled marriage, desperate to find the way back to that ’Quiet Place’ of their love for one another. The reduced orchestration - behind the scenes A 45-minute, one-act opera, with a small cast of five and minimal staging requirements, Trouble in Tahiti - composed in 1952 - is ideal for intimate venues and small companies. But a tricky obstacle ha