John Tomlinson

Kokoschka's Doll John Tomlinson

The Art of Love a song sequence from Alma Mahler prepares us for the emotional storms of contemporary composer John Casken's Kokoschka's Doll. Soprano Rozanna Madylus, together with brilliant chamber ensemble Counterpoise, sets the scene in songs by Alma Mahler, her first love and composition teacher Zemlinsky, and the man she married, Gustav Mahler, in new arrangements by composer David Matthews. Revered bass-baitone Sir John Tomlinson takes centre-stage for John Casken's Kokoschka's Doll, an extraordinary telling of the real-life story of Oskar Kokoschka's infatuation with Alma Mahler. More widely, Kokoschka's Doll explores the way women have been objectified sexually throughout history as models and muses, as objects rather than as real women (Oskar, a great Austrian painter, commissioned a life-size doll to help him come to terms with the end of his passionate and tempestuous relationship with Alma). The new libretto text, by John Casken and Barry Millington, draws on Oskar's letters and autobiography. In all, this release charts the life of Alma Mahler, a strikingly accomplished woman and composer who gave up her musical ambitions to marry Gustav Mahler, and who remained a muse and highly attractive inspiration to many others. Her early compositions are little-known gems which deserve much wider attention; this album release highlights her story.