Music: By Ark & Rocket

The weighty oaken doors of the Norman church of St. Bartholomew in Orford, England swung open with a groan, and out ran a small boy wearing the head of a mouse. After him tumbled a lion, a camel, an owl and an ass. Their capers among the tombstones scarcely drew a second glance from the local citizens, for everybody recognized them as the star performers of the Aldeburgh Festival's current star attraction: Benjamin Britten's eagerly awaited new music drama, Noye's Fludde.

The work did not tax Composer Britten's creative powers. Noye's Fludde (Noah's...

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