British composer Edward Rushton's chamber opera The Shops deals broadly and philosophically with the obsessive behavior of collectors, specifically with a collector who steals rare postage stamps from museum exhibitions. The libretto, by Dagny Gioulami, is smart and clever in its details, but it's narratively confusing and doesn't add up to much of an engaging drama. Rushton's atonal, scattered score doesn't give the material the kind of oomph needed to overcome the deficiencies of an undramatic libretto. His vocal writing shows off the voices nicely (an attribute all too often missing in new operas), but the text setting is randomly meandering and largely undifferentiated from scene to scene and from character to character. An exception is the perky, dance-like number in which the cast steps out of character and addresses the audience directly, raising philosophical questions about the ethics of personal ownership. Rushton's scoring for a very odd but effective chamber ensemble is inventive and colorful and more interesting than the vocal writing. The opera receives a first-rate production by the Opera Group, which is based in London. Patrick Bailey leads a crisp and lively performance. Singers Darren Abrahams, Anna Dennis, Phyllis Cannan, Richard Burkhard,
Louise Mott, and Paul Reeves, are consistently fine and do their best to bring life to the score. NMC's sound is clean and intimate.