Orchestra soloists,
chorus, orchestra
SKU:
PE.EP67890
An
Opera in Two Acts Based
on the Novel by Salman
Rushdie. Composed by
Charles Wuorinen. Full
Orchestra; Single Titles.
Edition Peters. 20th
Century. Full score. 782
pages. Duration 02:00:00.
Edition Peters
#98-EP67890. Published by
Edition Peters
(PE.EP67890).
ISBN
9790300747613. 297 x
420mm inches.
English.
Librett
o by James Fenton
In a
make-believe world, based
loosely on Bombay and
Kashmir, the story of
Haroun is a tale of a
fight between the free
imagination and the
powers that oppose it.
Haroun's father, Rashid,
the Shah of Blah, is a
professional and gifted
story-teller, a popular
figure much in demand at
public events. Feeling
neglected, his wife is
persuaded to leave him
and run away with a
neighbor. After this,
Rashid loses confidence
in his powers of
story-tellling, haunted
by his son's question:
'What's the use of
stories that aren't even
there?' Rashid is due to
speak at a political
rally to be held by the
sinister politician,
Snooty Buttoo. He is told
that if he does not come
up with his usual fund of
tales, his tongue will be
cut out. As Rashid
despairs, Haroun
determines to rescue his
father's talent - a
project in which he
learns that the Ocean of
the Sea of Stories, the
source of all stories, is
being polluted by the
enemy of all stories, the
evil Khattam Shud. In a
series of brilliant
imagined adventures,
Haroun succeeds in
defeating the powers of
darkness, and restoring
happiness to his family,
and to the city where he
lives.
Salman
Ruishdie's children's
book, written in the
aftermath of the fatwa,
has an effervescent style
which is full of rhymes
and wordplay. The
libretto stays very close
to the spirit of the
original, conjuring up a
fantasy world in which,
nonetheless, one never
loses sight of harsh
political reality and the
great issues of freedom
of speech and
imagination. -- James
Fenton, 1998
