Rodney Milnes, The Times

Fortunato (1993)

Welcomes are warmer on the arctic circle…”An important new opera…I say “important” because McQueen’s is an individual and compelling voice, eclectic in the very best sense…There is a healthy eroticism in much of Fortunato that has been absent from British opera since Walton. Above all the musical thought processes are always apparent: this is “useful” music in the way Britten wanted his to be…of Ian McQueen’s skill in writing for both voice and orchestra, and his overall command of operatic form, there can be no doubt.”