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kenjariLast night Other Kenjari, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
epilimnion, anacrucis, and I went to see Philip Glass' opera Akhnaten at The Boston Conservatory. I highly recommend attending opera productions at conservatories, by the way. The ticket prices are usually a steal compared to what you would pay to see a professional production, and the quality is generally quite high.
And the performance last night was indeed very good. The cast was terrific. The man who played Akhnaten was amazing. His vocal timbre needs some maturing, but he's certainly a talented singer. What made him more amazing is that he's a countertenor. Since it had been several years since I'd heard this opera, I'd forgotten about that. So it was a very pleasant surprise, especially because Akhnaten does not sing until the last third of the first act.
Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed in the opera itself. I just don't think it's Glass' best work. Akhnaten lacks unity. There is a scribe/narrator character who speaks rather than sings and is the only character whose part is in English. I found that his parts disrupted the flow of the opera, both musically and dramatically. And the libretto just does not do as good a job with the story as it could have. There is a lot of wordless singing, which is fairly effective conceptually. But only up to a point: during the third act when it became clear to me just how much textless singing there had been, I found myself wondering if perhaps it was more the result of lazy libretto writing than conceptual vision. Musically, it is very similar to Satyagraha (also by Glass). However, Satyagraha is a much better work and I found myself wishing that the opera program had chosen to do it instead.
Nonetheless, Akhnaten does have some really great moments. The trio sung by Akhnaten (countertenor), Tye (soprano), and Nefertiti (mezzo-soprano) at the end of the first act is just gorgeous. And the duet between Akhnaten and Nefertiti in the second act is beautiful. The orchestral writing makes some very good use of percussion, too. And I'm glad that the Conservatory chose to do it. It would be far too easy for any school's opera program to justify sticking to standard repertoire like The Barber of Seville and Verdi. I'm very pleased that Boston Conservatory is more adventurous, and interested in the work of living composers.
epilimnion, anacrucis, and I went to see Philip Glass' opera Akhnaten at The Boston Conservatory. I highly recommend attending opera productions at conservatories, by the way. The ticket prices are usually a steal compared to what you would pay to see a professional production, and the quality is generally quite high. And the performance last night was indeed very good. The cast was terrific. The man who played Akhnaten was amazing. His vocal timbre needs some maturing, but he's certainly a talented singer. What made him more amazing is that he's a countertenor. Since it had been several years since I'd heard this opera, I'd forgotten about that. So it was a very pleasant surprise, especially because Akhnaten does not sing until the last third of the first act.
Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed in the opera itself. I just don't think it's Glass' best work. Akhnaten lacks unity. There is a scribe/narrator character who speaks rather than sings and is the only character whose part is in English. I found that his parts disrupted the flow of the opera, both musically and dramatically. And the libretto just does not do as good a job with the story as it could have. There is a lot of wordless singing, which is fairly effective conceptually. But only up to a point: during the third act when it became clear to me just how much textless singing there had been, I found myself wondering if perhaps it was more the result of lazy libretto writing than conceptual vision. Musically, it is very similar to Satyagraha (also by Glass). However, Satyagraha is a much better work and I found myself wishing that the opera program had chosen to do it instead.
Nonetheless, Akhnaten does have some really great moments. The trio sung by Akhnaten (countertenor), Tye (soprano), and Nefertiti (mezzo-soprano) at the end of the first act is just gorgeous. And the duet between Akhnaten and Nefertiti in the second act is beautiful. The orchestral writing makes some very good use of percussion, too. And I'm glad that the Conservatory chose to do it. It would be far too easy for any school's opera program to justify sticking to standard repertoire like The Barber of Seville and Verdi. I'm very pleased that Boston Conservatory is more adventurous, and interested in the work of living composers.
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Date: 2005-02-06 06:30 pm (UTC)These misgivings turned out to be enitrely unfounded.
While I don't disagree with your critical assesment of the piece, I have to say overall I enjoyed the opera, both the cast's performance and the piece itself.
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Date: 2005-02-06 08:25 pm (UTC)