Our October Recording of the Month is Jake Heggie’s riveting new opera, Intelligence, a fast-paced thriller that premiered at Houston Grand Opera and is the debut recording on the company’s in-house label (HGO0001).

Based on a true story, it revolves around two women who were spies in Richmond, Virginia during the American Civil War – Elizabeth Van Lew, a white woman of privilege, and Mary Jane Bowser, a Black woman born into slavery in the Van Lew household. The opera tells how they manage to infiltrate the Confederate White House, narrowly escaping detection as they feed crucial information to the Yankees. But while Elizabeth and Mary Jane grow closer, a secret in their past threatens to destroy everything they are working towards.

Like all his scores, Heggie’s music is immediate and accessible, without ever feeling simplistic or trite. Janai Brugger is sympathetic and powerful as Mary Jane, tracing the journey from ‘privileged servant’ and resourceful spy to the showdown with her single-minded mistress. Jamie Barton’s Elizabeth is a masterful creation, warm and tyrannical by turns, compelling the listener to invest fully in this complex and conflicted character.

Kwamé Ryan conducts with a sure and steady hand, the...