[2] After Everding died, it appeared the work might not proceed, but Maazel got it picked up by Covent Garden and the Tokyo Opera.

By picking up nearly half the costs, he allowed the Royal Opera House to spend what it would for a typical revival from the standard repertoire, rather than a more expensive new production.

"[6] Andrew Clark of the Financial Times stated that the "only reason we find this slick perversion of Orwell on the Covent Garden stage is because super-rich Maazel bought his way there by stumping up the production costs," while Rupert Christiansen in The Daily Telegraph dismissed it as "operatic fast food.

Newsweek, which noted that, while the "score may occasionally sound more like an overblown film soundtrack than the meaty orchestration of an opera," the production "effectively conjures up the dispiriting emptiness of Orwell's awful vision.

The unusual and inspired choice of a baritone, Simon Keenlyside, for the lead role of Winston, lends the work a darker edge.