OperaView have created a small and intense production in which Menotti’s music comes across clearly: a ravishing piano accompaniment, played by Maite Aguirre, veers from schmaltzy sweetness, reminiscent of a silent film score, to bursts of plunging malevolence. Menotti’s strongest melody of all, the dark lullaby “The Black Swan”, sung first by Monica and later, tragically, by Madame Flora, is hypnotically beautiful.

Click here to read my full review on Bachtrack.

Suggested further resources:

• Obituary of Gian Carlo Menotti in The Telegraph, 2 February 2007
• Obituary of Gian Carlo Menotti in The Independent, 3 February 2007