[Usher House] is a one-acter in five scenes lasting just over an hour, the scoring relatively spare and the soundscape tonal with, in Getty's words, "hints of atonality." In this scenario, Roderick Usher, who lives with his off-balanced sister, Madeline, has invited an old school friend (Poe himself) to his house to help expunge some ancestral ghosts and revive the Usher family line. Its not entirely clear what's at issue here since Getty has introduced some new elements, including references to a medical archive, an ancient curse and a malevolent character named Doctor Primus. "We ourselves may be at risk if we cannot puzzle it out," Usher sings. Indeed.

This is one of those pieces that may fare better in the seeing than the mere listening. Getty's style is conversational, a kind of unending recitative with only one aria-like piece, a song written for Madeline by Poe and Usher in their schooldays. The singers are good and try hard, including two Canadians, baritone Etienne Dupuis (Usher) and bass Phillip Enns (Primus). Tenor Christian Eisner is Poe, and soprano Lisa Delan handles Madeline's nonverbal lines. Their efforts, however, can't mask the lack of a real dramatic arc in the score. The piece just seems to drift to its nominally catastrophic conclusion.