Off Our Shoulders

Benjamin Britten's first work for the stage--an operetta written in collaboration with W. H. Auden during their American sojourn in the late 1930s and early '40s--was also his most richly lyrical. Throughout the piece, Britten reaches far and wide for vernacular musical material (sincere blues, country-western, popular song) with tremendous musical and dramatic effect. This is an irresistibly charming, touching, and often very funny piece. Not even the hardest of hearts will be able to resist this music's undeniable appeal.
The acclaimed Richard Hickox conducts an outstanding cast of singer-actors and, thankfully, he does not "wink-and-nudge" this story. Quite on the contrary, he throws himself and his cast into both the humor and the pathos of the story. While there is not a weak link in the very large cast, the essential "glue" provided by the Narrator makes one all the more grateful for the wonderfully expressive performance of Peter Coleman-Wright.
REVIEWS:
Opera News (4/00, p.83) - "...Hickox displays an unerring touch for the precise balance, articulation, pacing and color that will create magic, again and again. In his hands the true Britten 'voice' comes through... establishing Paul Bunyan as a worthwhile companion to his other works..."
American Record Guide (7-8/00, pp. 100-01) - "...'Bunyan' is of an extreme
hybrid nature, somewhere between musical and opera, between drama and farce, between entertainment and polemic...[M]uch more than just a clever work[, i]t is a deeply serious one, often quite poetic..."