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  • The Critic Magazine

    Robert Thicknesse on Opera

    Apr 25, 2024 3 minutes

    YOU KNOW THE STORY, BUT HERE’S a reminder: . If any operatic image can elbow out the chesty soprano snuffing it on the bed, it’s got to be the wild-eyed bride of Lammermoor in her blood-spattered wedding dress: little Lucy Ashton, after gutting her unwelcome bridegroom, holding the stage for 15 minutes of raving, fantasy, reminiscence, wish-fulfilment … and finally, and most eloquently, a wordless cascade of notes spinning out like a Catherine wheel’s brilliant dying sparks. Poor mad Lucia, giving it the large one for all

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