But since the late 1980s, crossover has moved in the other direction too. Stewart Copeland and Roger Waters have written operas; Paul McCartney has written a stream of orchestral, choral and piano works; Elvis Costello has composed a ballet; and Sting--Mr. Copeland's onetime colleague in the Police--has undertaken several performance projects, most notably Songs From the Labyrinth, a 2006 CD of John Dowland songs and lute pieces, performed with a pop singers freedom and unpolished vocal tone.
You could easily fault him for those qualities, but in interviews Sting has made it clear that he is aware of his shortcomings. And he has discussed Dowland's songs, and other classical works, with a passion that shows that his heart is in the right place: he loves this music and wants people to hear it.
That was presumably part of the thinking behind Twin Spirits, a 100-minute hybrid theater piece and concert in which Sting and his wife, the actress Trudie Styler, appeared on Wednesday evening at the Allen Room. The work, written and directed by John Caird and first performed at Covent Garden in 2005, is meant to bring to life the romance between Robert and Clara Schumann. A 2007 performance, also at Covent Garden, has been released as an Opus Arte DVD.
Sting makes no attempt to sing Schumann's lieder in this production; the vocal music is the province of a baritone and a soprano. Instead Sting portrays the composer, reading from his letters to Clara Wieck during their long courtship and from the joint diary they started when they married in 1840. Ms. Styler plays Clara and reads her end of the correspondence.
