Michael Tippett was relatively fortunate during his lifetime. Not only were his first four operas given major stagings, each (eventually) received a distinguished recording. The Midsummer Marriage has even been given a second outing on disc thanks to Edward Gardner and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Curiously, his final opera, the daringly futuristic New Year, seemed quickly forgotten. This recording thus plugs an important gap in Tippett’s discography while giving us a chance to reassess a work that received decidedly mixed reviews following its 1989 Houston premiere.

New Year was written in the mid-80s, a time of social unrest in a Thatcher-led Britain fearful of multiculturalism and grappling with the ghettoisation of its inner cities. Tippett sets the action in Terror Town (dubbed Somewhere and Today) where Jo Ann, a youth worker, is afraid to leave her home. Meanwhile, her foster-brother Donny, a young black man, is struggling to connect with his African roots. Jo Ann’s plight attracts the attention of Pelegrin, a space pilot and time traveller from the future (dubbed Nowhere and Tomorrow). Donny, meanwhile, ventures out...