If you've always liked
Prokofiev's ironic modernist fairy tale opera The Love for Three Oranges but English was your mother tongue and you'd always wanted to know what the singers were carrying on about without having to bother with the distraction of looking at the libretto, you'll love this Chandos recording. It has three things going for it: it's brilliantly played, brightly sung, and in English. It's brilliantly played because
Richard Hickox, the capable English conductor famed for his recordings of every British orchestral composer this side of Havergal Brian, leads the orchestra and chorus of the
Australian Opera, clearly a colorful and powerful ensemble from the antipodes, in a sparkling and dazzlingly performance. It's brightly sung because the cast is mostly from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and other former British colonies and they articulate and express with impressive elegance and impeccable diction. It's in English because it was recorded in Australia and the people there speak English and because, amazingly enough, the text sounds just as mellifluous in English as in Russian or French. If, however, all you've ever known of The Love for Three Oranges is the infamous March from the famous suite, you're in for an ironic modernist fairy tale opera treat. Plus, if English is your mother tongue, you'll understand what the singers are carrying on about. It's pretty funny. No matter where it records, Chandos' sound is almost always the same: big, deep, and reverberant, but too edgy for some listeners.