Alexander Goehr's double bill was first seen in Dortmund in 1999; this British premiere is a joint production between the Aldeburgh festival and Almeida Opera. The sources for Kantan and Damask Drum are Japanese Noh plays, used, says the composer, "in the belief that the dramas ... may be understood by modern audiences".
In Kantan a traveller falls asleep on a magic pillow and is transformed into an emperor, only for his dream to end in nightmare. Damask Drum tells the story of an old gardener who is kidded into believing that a beautiful woman will be attracted to him if he beats a drum at night; but the drum makes no sound, and when the woman does not appear, the gardener drowns himself. Between the two operas Goehr inserts a little setting of a kyogen - a folk play - (Un)fair Exchange, in which the wife of a blind man elopes with a monkey trainer.
Each story is neatly shaped, and the librettos, by the composer, are economical. Musically, the score inhabits that strange territory recognisable from Goehr's recent works, in which baroque gestures are refracted through a post-serial sensibility, moving seamlessly in and out of tonality. The scoring is spare - strings, coloured by a sampling keyboard, percussion and harp, boosted by alto flute and trombone in Damask Drum.
This sound world is carefully realised by Sinfonia 21, conducted by David Parry, but sadly the staging does not similarly respect Goehr's dramaturgy. Tim Hopkins's perversely in-the-round production mistakes infantilism for imagination - three singers in gorilla suits lollop through (Un)fair Exchange; the "set" for Damask Drum includes a paddling pool and some shredded cabbage.
It's pointless and puerile, though the cast of six (including Eugene Ginty, Nicholas Garrett and Emma Selway) carry out the silly things they have to do admirably. Nigel Robson, as the gardener in Damask Drum, deserves special mention for managing to bring a stoic nobility to his character while having to sit in three inches of water.
At Almeida at King's Cross, London N1 (020 7359 4404), from Thursday.
