Flight, by Jonathan Dove, as performed by BYO

The other evening, I went to see the opening night of British Youth Opera's production of Flight, by the currently immensely fashionable Jonathan Dove. It was a bit of a departure for BYO - they tend to perform totally standard repertoire, but here they were, producing an opera which was only written ten years ago. It wasn't much of a risk, though. Over the past few years, what with high-profile work with groups such as English Touring Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera, as well as TV operas (one about Diana, Princess of Wales, and most recently Buzz on the Moon, about what it was like to be Buzz Aldrin, second man on the moon), Jonathan Dove is about as safe as living composers get.

His music is accessible too, blending as it does a strong flavour of the American minimalists (Glass, Adams et al) with great rhythmic vitality and an orchestral palette which calls to mind Janacek and Britten (indeed, BYO performed Dove's excellent rescoring of Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen four years ago). It's the sort of music which works well for a TV opera, where it can act as background as well as foreground.

Unfortunately, Flight is not a TV opera. Martin Lloyd Evans did a typically good job with the staging, making sure to squeeze every laugh out of the funny bits, and allowing the drama repose when the reflective moments came along. There are moments of real musical beauty in this work, and there are moments of high comedy, but somehow, they don't hang together as they should. Part of the problem is that Dove's distinctive style is also fairly limited, and a lot of the music sounds essentially rather similar - he does make use of what the programme notes call "organic thematic motifs", but they are not strong enough or characteristic enough to provide structural unity. The distinctive ideas come at the obvious moments - the airport announcement jingle, for instance - and they work, but only as markers, not as structural supports. The overall effect is somewhat confusing - you remember the big moments of the drama, and you are aware that music was present, but it is hard to remember how the music interacted with most of the drama, or even if it did at all.

That said, there were some strong performances here, notably from Andrew Radley as the Refugee, who gave a dramatically strong performance of a vocally demanding role. Colette Boushell and Nicky Spence made a fine bickering couple, and the mezzo Charlotte Stephenson made the most of her reflective moments as the Minskwoman, given some of the loveliest music to sing. Nicholas Cleobury conducted effectively, and Bridget Kimak's set and costumes worked well too. Another good BYO production, but as to the repertoire - I think best stick to the tried and tested in future.