Jane Eyre [2 CDs]

Over four decades the American composer Louis Karchin has produced a much-admired portfolio of compositions. His one-act opera Romulus won numerous accolades. Jane Eyre is his largest project to date, in which he and librettist Diane Osen fashion Charlotte Bronte's beloved novel into a vivid and moving opera cast as a fluid and continuous entity. Karchin's wide-ranging harmonic language and his flair for contrast ensure that the novel's drama, it's pastoral elements, and most importantly it's characterization are fully developed via arias, monologues, ariosi and a quartet, to create a boldly engaging new work.