tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post6932041488662064370..comments2024-03-16T08:02:38.070-04:00Comments on wellsung.blogspot.com: FizzleAlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15748408812275965064noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-82719273213204952762009-05-19T18:51:53.817-04:002009-05-19T18:51:53.817-04:00Re: the cloud-flower blossoms
Sorry, but that's ...Re: the cloud-flower blossoms<br /><br />Sorry, but that's a direct quote from a Tewa poem. I agree that the maid came across as a cliche (not so bad in the San Francisco production, but in the Met one ... yecch, and terrible taste in jewelry too), but what they gave her to sing was the real deal.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-18941572215439896372008-08-22T22:44:00.000-04:002008-08-22T22:44:00.000-04:00Great blog, thank you for posting!Free Add URL to ...Great blog, thank you for posting!<BR/><A HREF="http://www.therankdirectory.com" REL="nofollow">Free Add URL to 4,000+ Websites & 25,000+ Locals!</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-32317108507821416072008-01-22T00:16:00.000-05:002008-01-22T00:16:00.000-05:00Totally agree with you about the Indian maid. "Th...Totally agree with you about the Indian maid. "The cloud-flower blossoms." My god.<BR/><BR/>I'd like to link my blog to this post if you don't mind -- I posted very briefly on Atomic and linked to another friend's post. I also blogged about the Met's Macbeth broadcast recently.Heidihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17360212854272385905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-82730229436374190532008-01-20T23:12:00.000-05:002008-01-20T23:12:00.000-05:00Hank: I can't say I "didn't enjoy" this opera. Bu...Hank: I can't say I "didn't enjoy" this opera. But I was disappointed. It's as if I ordered prime rib and the waitress delivered a Whopper. And, while I stand by my statement that the 2d act was a bore, it was positively riveting compared, say, to the second act of Parsifal.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-19238109368468170122008-01-20T22:14:00.000-05:002008-01-20T22:14:00.000-05:00Dear Anonymous,Sorry you didn't enjoy the opera. ...Dear Anonymous,<BR/>Sorry you didn't enjoy the opera. As an absolute Adams fan perhaps my views are not completely objective.<BR/><BR/>However, I thought the opera was all about Oppenheimer and the emotions felt by everyone connected to the project and the effect it had on everyone near to them, and very little to do about the bomb as a bomb.<BR/><BR/>My perception of your comments about mic-ing are I think in concert with mine. Dickie at COT had said "never, ever" yet "Nixon" was mic-ed. Adams insists because he does not want singers to pop a gut over his gigantic orchestration.<BR/><BR/>Furthermore, this is not a fist at Lyric. Sweeney Todd was mic-ed. "A View From The Bridge" had recorded songs playing on a "phonograph."<BR/><BR/>The mic-ing was very discreet and in spite of my aversion to it, I found it completely unobjectionable in the second row.Patricia.Nicholashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13250153113013948582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-75938054929879866122008-01-20T21:35:00.000-05:002008-01-20T21:35:00.000-05:00I saw the opera last night at the Lyric. What a l...I saw the opera last night at the Lyric. What a letdown! Nixon in China is far and away my favorite modern opera, and the production I saw in St. Louis two years ago flat blew me away. So, it was with great anticipation that I (an Army nuclear weapons officer back in the '70s and quite aware of both the history and the physics) took my seat at the Lyric last night. I wanted to see what Adams had to say about Oppenheimer and The Bomb. <BR/><BR/>I suspected trouble when the opera began with recorded sounds, of all things! Recorded sounds at the Lyric? Gimme a break! <BR/><BR/>However, the opening number with the chorus was wonderful--kinda like the opening scene in Nixon. The opera essentially went downhill from there. Other than the Donne aria concluding the first act--which was a magic moment even if the gesticulations were a tad overwrought--there simply were no memorable moments in this opera. The second act in particular was a complete bore--I wanted to hear more about Oppenheimer and Teller, and less self pity on the part of Kitty and tribal lore from a Jane Eaglen-sized 1992 PC Native American (who, incidentally, had a truly fine voice, but was given nothing to sing but gibberish). The dancers were distracting, running hither and yon for no apparent purpose. But, at least watching the dancers gave me something to do during those wretched Kitty arias.<BR/><BR/>I don't agree with you regarding Groves. Of course, as an historical person, Groves was unfairly depicted--but his role here was comic relief, as was Kissinger's role in Nixon. I thought it worked pretty well.<BR/><BR/>While sorely disappointed, I came away glad that Adams, a huge talent, is making the attempt to keep my favorite art form alive--and that the Lyric is willing to stage new works. Even Mozart and Wagner had a dud or two, and we still love their operas, nicht wahr?<BR/><BR/>P.S. I did think that casting James Maddelena, the original Nixon, as the weather officer in Dr. Atomic was a nice touch.<BR/><BR/>P.P.S. I'm not sure that the singers were miked. If they were, you couldn't tell it in the first balcony.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-26264187152455755042008-01-19T22:57:00.000-05:002008-01-19T22:57:00.000-05:00I agree with your perception of the Leslie Groves ...I agree with your perception of the Leslie Groves character... I thought that in many ways he was the weakest link of the opera.<BR/><BR/>I don't, however, share the idea that the opera should have "said something." What could it have said that hasn't already been thought through any number of times by any number of thinkers, scientists, politicians and the like? <BR/><BR/>I've never thought of opera, or really any of the arts, as a medium for saying "something about something"... I tend to look more for indefinite expression... that is, the sort of expression found in instrumental music. I wouldn't ask a symphony to say something meaningful about the bomb... instead I'd ask, what is it expressing?<BR/><BR/>That being said, I thought the opera did a wonderful job of expressing any number of things, and a tepid job at others. I saw worlds intersecting and toppling over into each other - the bomb isn't at the center of things, and neither is family life, and neither are everyday details, and neither are politics... instead, everything runs next to each other, emphasis shifting. I thought this was beautifully expressed in the Kitty and Oppenheimer "Am I in your light?" scene as well as certain portions of Kitty's sections in the second act. That's one example of what I got from the piece. <BR/><BR/>But I can agree with many of your observations including some of the over-the-top gestures and motions, and the unclear (and suddenly-appearing) role of the Native American maid. Kitty's melodrama in the second act was a waste of absolutely stunning music - I'm not sure if this was the Rivera's fault or the fault of staging (or both). Ultimately I thought that the music was the star of the show and when I allowed myself to sink into it I found a lot to relish... but it was implemented in odd and sometimes meaningless ways, leaving me a little unfulfilled.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-66581779945924919902008-01-18T00:51:00.000-05:002008-01-18T00:51:00.000-05:00Hank,That's a fair point, altho I do take some iss...Hank,<BR/><BR/>That's a fair point, altho I do take some issues with the oversimplification of the emotional involvement later on. At the risk of imposing one's own whatnot on the opera, I guess I would say I think it is inadequate to make an opera about the bomb that only gets as far as the tension between the people involved being regular people and the bomb being this inhuman evil. That said, I am more than open to arguments about what I was missing...I was pretty strongly turned off by the end, but maybe it blinded me to other virtues.<BR/><BR/>AlexAlexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15748408812275965064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-61474413643723745882008-01-17T00:48:00.000-05:002008-01-17T00:48:00.000-05:00Honestly, I was unable to read the entire, very lo...Honestly, I was unable to read the entire, very long post, but I must comment on the second paragraph.<BR/><BR/>It is incomprehensible that anyone seeing the opera would think that it was about the bomb. Even a cursory exploration of the extensive material available on the creation of the opera, and even a slight attempt to a pay attention to the production should make it clear that it was not about the bomb, but the emotional involvement of the people who were instrumental in its creation.<BR/><BR/>More than that, it was a preview of the impending destruction of Oppenheimer by a society steeped in red baiting, and maybe one guilty about the horrible consequences of its use.<BR/><BR/>I promise that I will read the whole long thing later. Obviously I will probably disagree with you about the value of the effort to create the opera.<BR/>Hank.Patricia.Nicholashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13250153113013948582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-10271873984774135912008-01-16T16:11:00.000-05:002008-01-16T16:11:00.000-05:00Right on about the word setting. If you're going t...Right on about the word setting. If you're going to set totally straight passages of conversation, you need to write with some ear toward the natural rhythms of speech, or the whole thing is extremely hard to digest. That is, unless you are going for a deliberately unsettling effect, but I really don't think that's what Adams had in mind. I clearly don't understand Czech, but Janacek's sung conversations are far more intelligible than last night's.Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15748408812275965064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18540063.post-76296419425419765572008-01-16T13:32:00.000-05:002008-01-16T13:32:00.000-05:00I was at the premiere in San Francisco and the gro...I was at the premiere in San Francisco and the group of people I was with all thought it was a very, very poor piece. I said to one friend "Adams built his career as a reaction to the post-war avant-garde and now he's using a bunch of their tricks". <BR/><BR/>The word setting was awful too--he should lock himself away and study every one of Britten's operas and the War Requiem for clues on how to set English. Oh wait, why would he? He doesn't like opera but he keeps writing the damn things anyway.<BR/><BR/>Excellent, thorough review Alex.Henry Hollandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15871451112170286316noreply@blogger.com