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Article: double play; Luigi Dallapiccola: Il Prigionero; Canti di prigionia Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Jorma Hynninen, Howard Haskin, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir / Esa-Pekka Salonen (Sony SK 68 323)
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- January 5, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Luigi Dallapiccola took the plot of Il Prigioniero (The
Prisoner) from a play called "Torture by Hope" - a title which
perhaps he felt gave too much away in advance. Or perhaps it was
just too close to his own situation: a passionate libertarian with
a Jewish wife in Mussolini's Italy, he felt understandably
isolated, powerless, only able to express his feelings in music.
The story is nightmarish: the prisoner thinks he has escaped, in
fact he's simply caught in a subtle trap, "the ultimate torture".
In the opera, though, the music leaves us in little doubt about
the Prisoner's chances: the "liberty" music has a hallucinatory
sweetness, while the Jailer's apparently friendly "brother" ...