“…Cathy’s ghostly offstage voice in the Prologue soon had me hooked, Heathcliff’s passionate, florid response utterly in keeping with the novel’s spirit.… Georgia Jarman and Kelly Markgraf as the doomed couple are terrific, Markgraf’s testosterone-rich baritone a stark contrast to Vale Rideout’s insipid Edgar Linton. Chad Shelton’s Hindley is suitably brutish. Diction is clear, the English accents pretty decent. Repeated listenings reveal a myriad of instrumental details, like the rude trombone glissandi during Joseph’s tedious sermonising. The opera’s tragic denouement has the orchestra turned up to eleven. Joseph Mechavich’s Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra are outstanding; this doesn’t sound like an easy score to perform. An enterprising release: credit due to Wisconsin’s Florentine Opera for staging the work, and to Reference Recordings for taping it. Live performances on record rarely sound this good; stage noise is minimal and there’s a thrilling sense of immediacy.” —Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk

See the full review on The Arts Desk

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