The Phot, the Alb and I went to hear Dr Atomic at the Lyric Opera on Tuesday night. The opera has received extensive, expansive coverage from many journalistic quarters; rather than write a full review, I thought I would just share some thoughts that were left buzzing in my head while trying to come down from my caffeine high after the show:
I was floored by the opera. A totally committed cast of uniformly wonderful voices did raw, emotional justice to some of the most gloriously lyrical vocal writing this side of Samuel Barber. Anyone who has heard El Nino won’t be surprised by the radiant, moving slow music in Dr Atomic.
What is it in Adams’ operatic writing that I find so potent? He indulges in the sort of constant-state-of-flux, multi-layered orchestral writing that makes his orchestral works effective and exciting showpieces: ticking in the high winds, swelling long notes in the strings, scurrying scalar passages in the reeds, disjunct legato melodies for obligato horn and trumpet. Somehow Adams’ long, lyrical, seemingly endless vocal melodies – which flow effortlessly, seemingly removed from the web of activity beneath – glue these disparate instrumental textures together, giving them a purpose, a “heart”.
Knowing that the part of Kitty Oppenheimer was originally conceived with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in mind gave that character’s music special poignancy for me. In particular, the long aria that opens Act Two, which reminded me very much of La Annunciacion from El Nino (sung by La Lieberson), I found almost unbearably moving.
Gerald Finley is a genius. He has everything I adore in a singer: a full, focused sound; a commitment to the long line; the courage to take expressive and dramatic risks. Adams gives him the only real “aria” of the opera, at the end of Act One. Here there are no virtuoso orchestral distractions; the tune returns often, is easily recalled and simple to sing; and the aria is structured with striking and dramatic simplicity.
In Nixon in China and Death of Klinghoffer, Alice Goodman’s characters were allegorical rather than strictly historical. In Dr Atomic I was frustrated by Sellars’ overly literal, black-and-white, shove-it-down-your-throat text choices and treatment of the characters. In particular, I found the musically hectic expository sections (eg. Act I Scene I, filled with excerpts from letters and documents from the 1940s), disjointed and dramatically unsatisfying. On the other hand, I loved Sellars’ choice of poetic texts; Adams miraculous settings of Baudelaire, John Donne and other poets were the highlight of the evening.
At times the staging felt too abstract. The opera’s finale didn’t move me as I’d hoped, but I found Sellars’ handling the multi-layered drama of Act Two very effective. The director’s signature expressive hand-gestures were reserved for two pivotal moments, which enhanced their dramatic impact: Oppenheimer’s heart-breaking “trinity” aria at the end of Act One, and the dramatic chorus from Act Two, to a text from the Bhagavad Gita.
The orchestral writing, much as in Klinghoffer and El Nino, featured extended obligato solos, this time for horn, trumpet, very high oboe and low piccolo. The sound of celeste and harp were also prominent. Overall, the generally high quality of the playing was let down by patches of scrappy ensemble.
Below, the Phot gazing jealously at Bob Spano’s clearly, cleanly, colorfully, scrupulously marked-up score of Dr Atomic (the Phot has been taking on some conducting duties of late). Bob did some damage to his eye early in rehearsals, and valiantly conducted the premiere from the microscopically printed score almost blind…
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