Peter Maxwell Davies' 'The Medium'

This 42-minute long monodrama, to a text by the composer, is a huge challenge for the vocalist, 'a tour de force of an operatic scena' according to Davies. Unaccompanied, the vocal line spans a vast range and features extended techniques including Sprechgesang alternating with normal singing. As in Judith Weir's earlier 'King Harald's Saga' (1979), which was dedicated to Manning, the singer is required to portray a number of characters: a Cockney maid, a genteel lady, an avenging priest, the Devil, a terrified novice nun, a rape victim, a rabid dog, a killer crab, and a changeling child as well as the Medium herself, who hovers on the border of sanity and insanity. A key research question was therefore to find suitably differentiated vocal styles for each of these characters. Unaccompanied, the vocal line spans a vast range and features extended techniques including Spechgesang alternating with normal singing.