Michael Tanner

Beauty and the bleak

Plus: Why I vow never to see Madama Butterfly again

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issue 11 April 2015

The Ice Break is Michael Tippett’s fourth opera, first produced at Covent Garden in 1977 and rarely produced anywhere since, though there is an excellent recording of it. Its brevity (75 minutes) rather took the wind out of the Royal Opera’s sails, since they had envisaged a full evening’s piece.

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