The East Village Opera Company

Olde School (Decca)

By Rebecca Shore
Published: September 7th, 2008 | 9:00am

At one point or another, many of us have harbored a secret obsession with a rock opera: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Rocky Horror, Rent. What is it about shows like this that warrant such ravenous cult fascination? The stunning voices? The unadulterated emotion? Well, Rent-heads, your place of worship is drawing its final curtain this September, where will you turn? Take note.

The men and women who comprise East Village Opera Company have all of the above to offer — the voices, the passion, the likely ability to draw a cult following. But more than that, Olde School, touted on the EVOC website as "an album 300 years in the making," is a compelling argument that classical music and its architects — Verdi, Puccini, Handel, et al. — are to music what Shakespeare is to theater: timeless. Arias that would have found a home on the Top 40 lists of the past several centuries make up this track list. But, of course, these tracks come with a twist that is distinctly rock opera.

Wagner and progressive rock guitars? Mozart and a drum set? It works. "Gloria" — from Baroque composer Giovanni Bononcini's "Griselda" — is sung entirely in Italian, but contains dreamy electronic elements. "Walk" — from Handel's "Semele" — features horns, guitars, and soulful vocals. At the other end of the spectrum is "Soldiers" — from Charles Gounod's "Faust." It opens with a children's choir singing patriotic words (Soldiers who died in our country's name / Grant us the courage to do the same), minutes later erupting into a driving rock song. Projected over the music is a fiery anti-war, anti-establishment rant (Were it not for the profit of the endless fight / We might have peace in the valley / Now wouldn't that be a sight).

Granted, this isn't easily digestible stuff, and it's certainly not for everyone. If you don't fall into the category of rock opera fanatics detailed above — or if you're a classical music purist — you might find it a little, well, weird. The pairing of ProTools with a 17th century aria is different, to be sure, but it has its place. Olde School manages to expose that "place" — to pull it out from behind closed doors, and the passenger seat of your car. Bach and friends would have wanted it that way.

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