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INES DE CASTRO. This is the twelfth opera by the New York-born composer Thomas Pasatieri, 30; most of them have been performed either by U.S. regional opera companies or on television. A lurid tale of murder, intrigue and frustrated love, Ines de Castro builds to a climax in which the demented hero Dom Pedro places the cadaver of his true love Ines on the throne and declares her queen. Stage Director Tito Capobianco has conceived a stunning production that conveys most of the libretto's horror. What is called for musically is the power and sweep of a Verdi, or the psychological insight of a Moussorgsky. Pasatieri Instead has written in a bland, old-fashioned style that might be suitable for an O. Henry short story— say, The Gift of the Magi. Easy as it is to listen to, Pasatieri's music simply fails the text.
ASHMEDAI. Josef Tal, 65, is Israel's leading electronic composer. He works in a universally recognized style: 20th century eclectic. This grab-bag approach blends traditional composing techniques, rigorous twelve-tone segments reminiscent of Schoenberg with some electronic buzzes and drones. There are some striking orchestral passages. This kind of writing is not designed to display the human voice, despite vivid characterizations by Soprano Eileen Schauler and Baritone Paul Ukena.
Ashmedai is the story of a demon who corrupts an idyllic kingdom that has been at peace for 500 years. The work is really more a theater piece than an opera. The evening owes its success mainly to Hal Prince's (West Side Story, Cabaret, Fiddler on the Roof) making his debut as an operatic director. He is a master of illusion. There is a scene of villagers applauding a fire-eater that visually recalls Bruegel, a ridiculous pas de deux between the queen and a giant rooster. In a final Princely touch, darkness envelops the opera house. Then the spotlight focuses on the demon Ashmedai, who is smiling down from a box in the theater; it is a visual grace note that will outlast anything the audience has heard.