Elena Langer’s new opera Figaro Gets a Divorce premieres at Welsh National Opera in February; meanwhile here’s a chance to get to know the Muscovite’s deft vocal writing up-close. Landscape with Three People is a song cycle that sets Lee Harwood poems — and to some extent narrates his love life — for soprano Anna Dennis, countertenor William Towers and small ensemble led by oboist Nicholas Daniels. It’s nimble and light, sensual without forcing the point, folksy but not quite fey; whimsical, in the deconstructed manner of Berio or Nono. The two voices lilt together in First Love Scene, sultry and restrained while the oboe flits about saying what the signers won’t. There’s a rapturous duet for oboe and countertenor in His Return; I Hear You is all sighs and quickened breaths. The performance is excellent — especially from Dennis, whose voice is beautifully grainy but still laced with metal. The album also contains older Langer songs including the haunting Russian lament Tucha and a feverish 17-minute monologue called Ariadne.
