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Iain Bell: "In Parenthesis"

The young British composer Iain Bell's new commission, recorded last month at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, adapts a critically acclaimed WW1 text by the Welsh poet, David Jones. Carlo Rizzi conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of Welsh National Opera.

First published in 1937, "In Parenthesis" is based on Jones' experiences as an infantryman with the Royal Welch Fusiliers in the Battle of the Somme. The opera follows Private John Ball and his comrades from an army Parade Ground in England in December 1915 to the Front line in France. Only visible to Ball, two bards, Britannia and Germania, and a Chorus of Remembrance, act as narrators. Ball is a visionary who straddles real and mythical worlds, forseeing a dark underworld ahead. The advance into Mametz Wood leaves Ball as the sole survivor of his troop. Wounded, he sees the surrounding carnage transform into a place of beauty, offering regeneration and hope. Artistic Director of WNO David Pountney directs this production on the centenary of the Battle of the Somme.

Christopher Cook introduces the opera with contributions from the poet Michael Symmons Roberts, composer Iain Bell, and librettists David Antrobus and Emma Jenkins.

Bard of Britannia / HQ Officer....Peter Coleman-Wright (baritone)
Bard of Germania/Alice the Barmaid/The Queen of the Woods....Alexandra Deshorties (soprano)
Sergeant Snell.....Mark Le Brocq (tenor)
Private John Ball....Andrew Bidlack (tenor)
Lieutenant Jenkins....George Humphreys (baritone)
Lance Corporal Lewis.....Marcus Farnsworth (baritone)
Dai Greatcoat.....Donald Maxwell (baritone)
Private Watcyn....Joe Roche (tenor)
Private Wastebottom....Martin Lloyd (bass)
The Marne Sergeant....Graham Clark (tenor)
German soldier/Runner....Simon Crosby Buttle (tenor)
Orchestra and Chorus of Welsh National Opera
Carlo Rizzi (conductor).