My Love, My Umbrella - Kevin O'Connell
Three stories by John McGahern form the basis of James Conway's libretto for Kevin O'Connell's new opera, My Love, My Umbrella, which received its Irish premiere at TCD last night. Leanly resourced (four singers, four instrumentalists, including the conductor, who plays piano), and with just under an hour of music, there's a lot to be traversed.
An unaccompanied prologue in a pub - spoken, not sung - sets the scene for the three tales of ultimately frustrated relationships. It functions as a sort of large-print user's guide to the intercutting and roleswapping of the opera proper. As a clarifying device, it proves straightforwardly eff ective, though it does rather reduce unforeseens in the context of the work as a whole.
O'Connell has opted to lever the weight of his musical thinking through the instrumental writing. His chosen quartet of violin, clarinet, double bass and piano is worked with a good ear for density and linearity, sometimes with striking Britten esque overtones, which were at their most telling in the earlier scenes. The vocal writing is altogether more limited in scope and, indeed, is plain enough for the frequent shifting between singing and speech to be minimally disruptive.
Director Chrissie Poulter moves the characters fluidly around Stephen McManus's spare, square settings. As the various pairs of lovers, Fiona McAndrew and Niall Morris respond with immediacy to the generally blunt functionality of the sung lines. Richard Jackson traverses a broader character range with chameleon ease and Kate McCarney essays the composer's synthesized ballad style with sincerity.
