“Zaika’s opera is in part a narrative – but that historical interface is also a contemporary vision. If Morris’s score had had textures that predisposed towards the monophonic and darker tones, Zaika hinted at ones that probed much deeper; the piano, for example, was weightier, almost mighty in its shifts of colour. Strings were more prominent – especially the use of the cello. The question Zaika’s l’ asks is whether his choice of going to the Front (and probably his own certain death) is an easier one than it is for a man to sign warrants and send others to their death? The theme of revolution marked in this particular opera stands apart from the others in one important sense: it is simply not one set in history. It is as relevant today as it was in the 1920s. This perhaps made I (Romance) the bleakest of all the operas and also the one that most felt unstable within its miniature framework. But it felt entirely contemporary and the truths it made us confront were uncomfortable.”