Dr Atomic
Posted by: Wolf2 on 09 November 2008
I saw the Met HD broadcast yesterday and was bowled over by it. I really like his works.
It was about Oppenheimer and the creation of the bomb. It was just fantastic. He had such humanity and brilliant mind to keep it going on such a rush. But afterward he questioned the value of it and powers that be took his security clearance away and it crushed him tho he did head an atomic counsel for 10 years till his death. There were three poets that were worked into the opera. One a love scene with his wife was something by Beaudelere sp? Last aria before the end of second act was by John Donne the 17th C poet and was just so beautiful and powerfully sung. And the last was from the Bhagavita sp? again dismembered, which made no sense, but well sung.
The tension built and built with some soft beautiful sections before cranking it up again and again. At the end, a long, long tense section with basses drubbing as the countdown and white tarps were raised in the background and eventually silence with a white flash before darkness and the last words were a Japanese woman asking for water and trying to find her father. With simple text translation projected on a black scrim it was really an incredible experience. Beautifully handled.
I went to a cafe with friends and we picked apart things we didn't like of course, but over all it wasn't something to be missed. I was really annoyed with the use of cigarettes onstage. Yes he died of throat cancer and lots of people smoked, but start off with it and then let it go. I really didn't like their love scene where this white cig is being passed around like a magic act, where is it going to appear now? I couldn't concentrate on the music or singing. Much of the text a friend noted was dismembered Beaudeleire poem in that scene. He's difficult enough to read. But still the music and singing was great, Gerald Findley was Oppenheimer.
Adams is my favorite current composer so this is not without prejudice.
It was about Oppenheimer and the creation of the bomb. It was just fantastic. He had such humanity and brilliant mind to keep it going on such a rush. But afterward he questioned the value of it and powers that be took his security clearance away and it crushed him tho he did head an atomic counsel for 10 years till his death. There were three poets that were worked into the opera. One a love scene with his wife was something by Beaudelere sp? Last aria before the end of second act was by John Donne the 17th C poet and was just so beautiful and powerfully sung. And the last was from the Bhagavita sp? again dismembered, which made no sense, but well sung.
The tension built and built with some soft beautiful sections before cranking it up again and again. At the end, a long, long tense section with basses drubbing as the countdown and white tarps were raised in the background and eventually silence with a white flash before darkness and the last words were a Japanese woman asking for water and trying to find her father. With simple text translation projected on a black scrim it was really an incredible experience. Beautifully handled.
I went to a cafe with friends and we picked apart things we didn't like of course, but over all it wasn't something to be missed. I was really annoyed with the use of cigarettes onstage. Yes he died of throat cancer and lots of people smoked, but start off with it and then let it go. I really didn't like their love scene where this white cig is being passed around like a magic act, where is it going to appear now? I couldn't concentrate on the music or singing. Much of the text a friend noted was dismembered Beaudeleire poem in that scene. He's difficult enough to read. But still the music and singing was great, Gerald Findley was Oppenheimer.
Adams is my favorite current composer so this is not without prejudice.