Review: The Spoils of War – Marble City Opera Gives U.S. Premiere of ‘City of Ashes’

“More Benjamin Britten than Shostakovich, Fein’s score is gently lyrical, both in the vocal writing and the piano underpinnings—a lyricism that, at first, surprises the listener with its non-aggressive tonality. While such tonal matter-of-factness seems at conflict with the harshness of the implied drama of the story, Fein’s musical style allowed the singers the tonal freedom to sculpt their characters gently, and, ultimately, to suggest hope and optimism from Anderson’s narrative.”