Jonathan Dove's one acter, first given by Almeida Opera 14 years ago, is a gem of a piece from a composer who rarely puts a foot wrong in the opera house. Henk Guittart conducting the Siren Ensemble… relishes the simple subtleties of Dove's score: from the arresting opening, with an insistent xylophone over dark rising chords, to the echoes of a Gamelan Orchestra and shimmering bell-like sounds, when Davey the sailor lands respectively in Singapore and Bali. Brad Cooper is magnificent as the innocent sailor.

Not since Benjamin Britten has a British composer succeeded in writing operas which communicate with such clarity and coherence to their audience as those by Jonathan Dove. The secret to his success lies partly in his experiences of writing 'community' operas, resulting in refreshingly open and accessible works. But there's also plenty of grit and grime beneath the polished veneer of his streamlined style, especially when the plot is as equally compelling and disturbing as it is in Siren Song.
The opera recounts the true story of a Royal Navy sailor (Davey) who becomes the victim of an elaborate hoax. Duped by means of letter exchanges into believing that the beautiful and alluring Diana lies waiting for him on terra firma upon completing Navy service, the hapless sailor parts with thousands of pounds in anticipation of marital bliss, all of which lines the pockets of Jonathan, the perpetrator of this ruse.
Dove's dramatic skill lies in his ability to create a seamless continuity by weaving cell-like musical figures from one scene to the next. His subtle manipulation of an undulating pattern first heard in the opening seascape scene is adapted to accompany a whole host of other states and situations. Given the seafaring setting, it's hardly surprising that echoes of Debussy's Lamer, Britten's Peter Grimes and Adams's TheDeath of Klinghoffer rise to the surface. Dove also shares with the latter composer an ability to generate large-scale structures from the simplest of musical means. But it is testimony to the Englishman's eclecticism that he skilfully appropriates such references into a language undeniably his own.
This live recording possesses its fair share of onstage clanks and offstage coughs, but at least they all lend an air of vraisemblance to proceedings, and the opera's rapid descent into the depths of deceit and desperation is effectively portrayed, despite the absence of visuals.

Not since Benjamin Britten has a British composer succeeded in writing operas which communicate with such clarity and coherence to their audience as those by Jonathan Dove. …the opera's rapid descent into the depths of deceit and desperation is effectively portrayed.

Dove’s score is fluent and eclectic, and he evokes place and feeling with pinpoint accuracy. The cast is excellent, as is the playing of the purpose-built Siren Ensemble under Guittart.

This recording, made at last summer's production at the Amsterdam Grachtenfestival, is expertly paced, and Dove's Adams-inspired sound-world is evocatively conjured up by the small chamber ensemble.
The live nature of the recording does mean that some of the singing sounds too backward in the aural picture, but Brad Cooper's besotted Davey comes across well, as do the wily persuasive powers of Mattijs van de Woerd's conman.