Last Days (Triple Gatefold 2LP)

Oliver Leith’s critically-acclaimed chamber opera Last Days premiered in a sold-out run of performances at London’s Royal Opera House in October 2022. In this new studio recording, released on Platoon in June 2024, the stellar cast return to their original roles and the 12 Ensemble led by Jack Sheen anchor Leith’s tightly wrought and deeply imaginative score. Based on the cult film Last Days written and directed by Gus Van Sant, this new opera from composer Oliver Leith and librettist Matt Copson plunges into the torment that created a modern myth, as we witness the undoing of Blake, whose self-destructive spiral lies at the heart of the 90 minute opera.QUOTES:Oliver Leith’s score is a sonic tapestry interweaving delicate instrumental effects, “found” sounds, and a cappella vocal timbres... The work is finely wrought, particularly as rendered here by the 12 Ensemble string orchestra under Jack Sheen’s direction. - The IndependentLeith’s score, brilliantly rendered by 12 Ensemble under Jack Sheen, is starkly original. - ‘Bachtrack’Last Days is Leith’s first opera; I don’t think it’ll be his last - Evening StandardLeith’s music doesn’t seek to impose itself upon the subject: rather, it is as if he has discovered the ideal subject for it to expand upon. - The Stage‘Jack Sheen conducted the slick 12 Ensemble…balancing the push-pull sternness and rapture of a score that surely has a real future ahead’ - Opera