They are all well written, expressive, and listenable. Blumenfeld's considerable instrumental expertise is highlighted in the orchestral Illuminations , which are brilliantly conceived and executed. All of the performances are goood. A synovitis tumor, resulting in the amputation of his right leg, led to his early death. Blumenfeld's music illumines his subject uncompromisingly, but with gestures that draw the listener into the drama.
Vocal lines are angular, and there is a caravan of percussion on towers flanking the stage.
But the music never overwhelms. The opera's most spectacular moment occurs in the orgy, when Rimbaud is tied to a wheel bearing white lights, then raised to a bank of lights which fell him like the mythical Icarus approaching the sun. The production is an artistic event of the first order. The orchestra carefully supports, outlines, and punctuates the vocal line. The percussion parts are written with exquisite restraint, rarely overwhelming the voices.