Brian Current – Airline Icarus
Huhtanen; Szabó; Thomson; Dobson; Sirett; Ensemble; Brian Current
Naxos 8.660356
Airline Icarus by composer Brian Current and librettist Anton Piatigorsky was initially commissioned in 2001 and underwent a series of developments in the ensuing decade. This intense, 45-minute chamber opera transports the listener through an emotional journey as it depicts the reactions of passengers and crew on a doomed commercial flight. The work was inspired by the tragic crash of a Korean airliner that was struck by a Soviet missile in 1983 and descended for nearly 15 minutes before impact.
The opera’s award-winning composer, conductor and music director, Brian Current, presents a cohesive vision for this impressive, multi-layered work that incorporates the myth of Icarus, whose wings melted after flying too close to the sun. It serves as a reminder that our technological advances can have devastating results.
Piatigorsky’s insight into human nature exposes a glimpse of humanity at its most vulnerable as the libretto juxtaposes mundane conversations with the characters’ introspective thoughts. This dramatic fluctuation is sustained, quite extraordinarily, by the chamber chorus and soloists Carla Huhtanen (Ad Exec), Krisztina Szabó (Flight Attendant), Graham Thomson (Scholar), Alexander Dobson (Worker/Pilot) and Geoffrey Sirett (Business Man).
Current’s depiction of turbulence is frighteningly realistic until an eerie stillness, beautifully performed by the instrumental ensemble, underscores the Pilot’s aria, providing an impression of suspended time and space. Superbly sung by Dobson, it ironically describes his joy of flying as the plane descends. The disturbing Epilogue closes the opera with a prolonged, final silence.
