The wildest and most open of his operas, New Year is an extraordinarily youthful conception for a composer in his mid-eighties, a work that spins his lyrical ecstasy and rhythmic vitality into a new world on the point of disintegration. Unlike its four predecessors, all of which had been written for the Royal Opera House, this one was composed for Houston Grand Opera, a relocation that encouraged Tippett to veer from opera to musical, evenrock musical, giving space to pop song, spoken dialogue, ...