Bolcom - A View from the Bridge / Josephson, Malfitano, Turay, Lyric Opera of Chicago, D. Russell Davies
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Free Music Notes for Bolcom - A View from the Bridge / Josephson, Malfitano, Turay, Lyric Opera of Chicago, D. Russell Davies
Free Music Review: Bolcom at his best.
Hit: 4 Stars
I had the pleasure of attending the world premier performance of this opera. The recording doesn't quite capture the intensity of the performers, but does a more than adequate job of communicating the power of the story and the score. Buy this opera. It is among the best 20th century American opera recordings ever made, IMO.Free Music Review: View from the Bridge
Hit: 4 Stars
Good singing nice orchestral playing. Great CD to Learn about this opera from.
Free Music Review: A solid modern opera
Hit: 3 Stars
Generally hailed as one of the best recent American operas, Bolcolm's take on Arthur Miller's play has all the ingredients of a traditional opera -- tragically flawed characters, soaring melodies, even a revenge aria -- and yet strikes a thoroughly modern chord, its dynamic score underlining themes of family dysfunction and incest. Drawing from a eclectic palette that serves to support the characters rather than bury them, Bolcolm's music moves deftly through an emotional and stylistic landscape, from jazz to lyricism to dissonance. Although the beginning of the opera is a bit talky, the arrival of Rodolpho brings a wonderful Italian tenor into the mix, his spirited voice soaring above the Brooklyn dockworkers and pulling the opera along to its tragic conclusion.Free Music Review: Powerful Theatrically, but not Operatically
Hit: 2 Stars
I suspect that this opera works better in the theater than on disc. The Arthur Miller play works like Greek tragedy, even in it's original version. The problem is that the Bolcom music just doesn't seem to add all that much to the procedings. There is little that is memorable in the musical moments. Much of the vocal writing resembles extended arioso rather than true melodic writing. This is certainly a popular way for modern opera to be written, but in the hands of all but the greatest masters (Debussy, Berg, Janacek, Britten) it never really works as opera. A play is better as a play. Unless the music really elucidates something that can't be found in the words, it renders itself superfluous. No fault can be found with the performances. They are definitive. This is probably an opera that composers and fans of modern opera should hear at least once. Bolcom is an important composer and derserves exposure. But most will probably not find themselves drawn to a re-hearing.
Free Music Review: Maybe the view was better from somewhere else.
Hit: 1 Stars
I'm sure this is a fine CD. It's the opera that is a real disappointment to me, and I just don't want to spend any more time with it.I've loved the play for years. When I heard that an opera was being created, it seemed like a perfect idea. But I sure don't like the result.
I've heard the opera twice: broadcast from Lyric Opera and broadcast from the Met. The libretto is fine. It's the music that's a problem for me. Nothing flows smoothly. Nothing soars. The phrasing is so painfully artificial that I get the feeling that Bolcom was composing for a different language, which has been awkwardly translated into English.
Reading the praises heaped on Bolcom and his score I wonder what people are hearing that I miss. I wonder what interests the artists involved enough to spend time with this project. I wonder why, after comissioning the project, anybody bothered to produce it.
Bring back THE VOYAGE. Bring back THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES. Stage L'MORE DEI TRE RE. But let this BRIDGE collapse, sink, and be forgotten.