Agata Zubel (b1978), a Polish composer and singer who has worked with some frequency with electronics, describes Oresteja as a ‘dramopera’, a work combining operatic gesture with the monologues of the original Aeschylus play (here translated into modern Polish by Maciej Słomcyzński), and thus heavily dependent on text. This works well as a stage translation of the monumentality of Aeschylus’s trilogy (the libretto combines Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides), and the sound world is as disturbing as one might expect.

The problem is that it is also limited. The casting is for actress, soprano, countertenor and tenor soloists, choir, percussion and electronics. While the choir (the inestimable Polish Radio Choir) turn in a splendid performance, they are, it seems to me, restricted by the grim intensity of the electronics. That is sometimes obviated by more active figuration (such as in the brief Intermezzo I), or more colourful writing (‘Apollo’ in Act 2 – countertenor soloist Michał Sławecki is outstanding), but the principal objective seems to be to transmit in detail the unrelenting analysis of hate. As such it makes for a challenging listening experience, and presumably for a theatrical one as well.