Baa Baa Black Sheep: A Jungle Tale (Complete opera)

'This is a powerful first opera, a welcome challenge to any enterprising opera company, and reissued at a time when much more of Michael Berkeley's music is appearing on the Chandos Berkeley Edition. The recording captures the intensity of a live performance, which never loses impetus.'
- Gramophone

'This recording was made at performances by a uniformly strong Opera North cast... warmly recommended: even if you don't think you like contemporary opera, give it a try.'
- BBC Music Magazine

'...the cast is marvellous from top to bottom. Everyone sings extremely well, with remarkably clear diction, especially given the difficulty of some of the musical lines. The orchestra and chorus completely belie their status as provincial organisations. The recording, while obviously live, captures the wide range of colour and dynamic coming from the stage. James North, in particular, has written eloquently about the rarity of a new opera that has legs. It seems to me that this is one of them. If you missed the original Collins issue, don't make that mistake again.'
- Fanfare

'The recorded performance is excellent, less sung than acted, less performed than lived. Malcolm Lorimer (boy treble) sounds truly terrified of the savage, vicious Aunty of Fiona Kimm, a triumph of the portrayal of evil. The rest of the singers are uniformly fine. The orchestra and chorus contribute their excellence to the show.'
- American Record Guide

Chandos is proud to present Michael Berkeley's first opera, Baa Baa Black Sheep.

The opera, written to a libretto by distinguished Australian novelist David Malouf, was first performed by Opera North at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, in 1993, and proved an enormous success.

Michael Berkeley's second opera, Jane Eyre, released on Chandos in 2002, was a great critical success, described by The Sunday Times as 'compelling psychotheatre'. This live recording, taken from the Grand Theatre, Leeds, is the only available version of Baa Baa Black Sheep.

'Berkeley's opera is high in original concept. His finely tuned sense of instrumental colour is lushly exploited in music which evokes the sights and sounds of the jungle with marvellous use of wood-winds, tuned percussion, Indian-sounding instruments and an electronic synthesizer… the jungle vibrates with sumptuous colour.'
The Sunday Times

'Berkeley's often violent score is written with angrily dramatic heat… the opera as a whole makes a disturbing cumulative impact.'
The Daily Telegraph

'An ambitious, challenging work to a very fine libretto by David Malouf… the subject is a wonderful one.'
The Financial Times