Roles
Edgar Allan Poe — Tenor
Roderick Usher — Baritone
Madeline Usher — Soprano
Doctor Primus — Bass
Madeline as a child — Soprano
Roderick as a child — Soprano
Attendant — Baritone
Ancestors — DancersMusicians — Actors: Non-speaking
Instrumentation
Bassoon, doubling Contrabassoon
2 Horns in F
Trumpet in C
Tenor Trombone
Bass Trombone
Percussion, 2 Players: (Slapstick – one-handed, Anvil, Thunder Sheet, Bass Drum, Snare Drum, Tubular Bells, Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Vibraphone – motor off, Marimba)
Harp
Sampler Keyboard, 1 Player (Celesta, Harpsicord, Piano)
Strings
Learn more about the Usher House recording
Photo: Scene from Usher House, San Francisco Opera
Recording the Album - Gulbenkian Orchestra with Lawrence Foster, conductor; Etienne Dupuis, baritone; Christian Elsner, tenor; Phillip Ens, bass; Lisa Delan, soprano; Benedict Cumberbatch, actor
“There is a certain strophic character about the sung lines in the first scene, and the orchestration is exceedingly clever, supporting the voices or commenting on the drama in turn. When Roderick suggests having a ball, for instance, the rhythm changes to 3/4 time and a quirky waltz melody arises; when he talks of the landscape around the house as being desolate, the orchestra reflects this in both its melodic and timbral treatment. This sort of thing continues throughout the opera, the sign of an assured composer who understands his art and knows exactly how to morph and change the music, not only in such a way that it supports or echoes the drama but also to keep the listener on the edge of the seat. This is first-class music.”
Lynn René Bayley
Fanfare, January-February 2014
In addition, Getty…has added elements to the devolution of the ancient curse on the Usher family, and has chosen to put the Usher Ancestors into the production (as either silent performers or projections). These alterations heighten the dramatic impact of the show, effectively conveyed in this recording by the emotive and powerful voices of the small international cast…
Jeff Kaliss
San Francisco Classical Voice, 2013
“He is a real composer. His style is proudly tonal, although there are, as he says, ‘hints of atonality, such as any composer would likely use to suggest a degree of disorientation’...I think Usher House is his most expressive work yet.”
Raymond Tuttle
International Record Review, January 2014