Bliss, Edinburgh

Life is cruel. Capitalism is corrupt. Ambition is cancerous. But by turning your back on so-called civilisation and cultivating your back yard, you may find salvation. That seems to be the moral of Brett Dean’s new opera, a black comedy about modern life. Based on Peter Carey’s 1981 novel, Bliss tells of an advertising executive, Harry Joy, who has a heart attack that triggers (or symbolises?) a midlife crisis. He sees the hollowness of his success, is dismissed as mad by his peers and survives by dropping out.

It’s hard to know if Dean really believes in the Candide-like ending, more upbeat than Carey’s novel, or whether it’s merely a middle-aged composer’s wishful whimsy. Dean, a 50-year-old Australian, has come far since his days playing viola for the Berlin Philharmonic. He is now an internationally admired composer; it was time he tried his hand at opera. Commissioned by Opera Australia and premiered in Sydney in March, Bliss provided a fitting climax for the 2010 Edinburgh International Festival, where it slotted neatly into the “Oceans Apart” theme.

In spite of its Australian colloquialisms, Bliss comes across as thoroughly European, thanks partly to Amanda Holden’s shapely libretto but mostly to the post-Bergian modernisms of Dean’s teeming score. He is far more interested in the expressive potential of the orchestra than the human voice. The only character with anything memorable to sing is Honey B, the tart with a heart who saves Harry from the rat race. Dean gives her music of touching lyricism, as if she alone interests him. There are also dramaturgical weaknesses. An overlong first act slavishly follows Carey’s scenario – the police scene should be cut – and the third act goes off at a tangent, focusing on Harry’s wife before abruptly shifting to his redemption.

Most of these flaws were camouflaged by a staging (Neil Armfield) whose pixelated design – created by a mass of LEDs (Brian Thomson) – made a dazzling set. Elgar Howarth, conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra, gave the performance a foundation of supreme confidence, while Peter Coleman-Wright’s Harry and Lorina Gore’s Honey B swept the stage. (