All opera house programmers are wary of newly composed operas. The audience may well stay away when one of those complex plays of today is brought to the stage. They don't have to have that fear with this piece by Michael Nyman, Love counts. Nyman has been known to a wider audience for years, especially thanks to his appealing, minimal-ish music for Greenaway's film 'The cook, the thief, his wife
… and her lover'. In this piece too, he uses his well-known stylistic device: regular repetitions, ditto pulse and euphonious harmonies, which can largely be traced back to the familiar triads. This opera is contemporary mainly because of its libretto. Love counts is just a love story at first glance. Contemporary, however, the protagonists are: a female math professor takes care of a boxer when she notices that he is illiterate. (A hundred years ago a male professor would have taken care of a poor and illiterate girl.) The structure of the text is also movingly contemporary. The boxer may be illiterate, but he is very good at talking about his feelings and expressing how 'something feels to him' so that the man would do a great job as a guest of Oprah and Dr. Phil. Opera of this time, and at the same time one hundred percent accessible musically and lyrically. (JvG) but he is very good at talking about his feelings and expressing how "something feels towards him" so that the man would do a great job as a guest of Oprah and Dr. Phil. Opera of this time, and at the same time one hundred percent accessible musically and lyrically. (JvG) but he is very good at talking about his feelings and expressing how "something feels towards him" so that the man would do a great job as a guest of Oprah and Dr. Phil. Opera of this time, and at the same time one hundred percent accessible musically and lyrically. (JvG)more
