Novacek/Tappan/Didonato/Belcher/Yuan/Houston Grand Opera Orchestra/Summers
(Naxos)
Still to be heard in the UK, Mark Adamo's 1998 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel is the most frequently performed new opera from the last two decades. Adamo's arguments that the book's kernel lies in its demands that our dependence on the past should not make us resistant to change are reflected in his amalgam of a retro, post-Romantic style, and a modernist dramatic structure that simultaneously tracks parallel narratives across a divided stage. It will prove too sentimental for some tastes, while the character of Friedrich Bhaer – whose love Jo March finally accepts in acknowledgement of her own independence – also struck me as being too much of a cipher to be convincing. But you can't fault the performance, filmed in 2002 during a revival of the original Houston production. Joyce Didonato fans will be fascinated by her self-assured Meg.
(Naxos)
Still to be heard in the UK, Mark Adamo's 1998 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel is the most frequently performed new opera from the last two decades. Adamo's arguments that the book's kernel lies in its demands that our dependence on the past should not make us resistant to change are reflected in his amalgam of a retro, post-Romantic style, and a modernist dramatic structure that simultaneously tracks parallel narratives across a divided stage. It will prove too sentimental for some tastes, while the character of Friedrich Bhaer – whose love Jo March finally accepts in acknowledgement of her own independence – also struck me as being too much of a cipher to be convincing. But you can't fault the performance, filmed in 2002 during a revival of the original Houston production. Joyce Didonato fans will be fascinated by her self-assured Meg.
- 12/10/2010
- by Tim Ashley
- The Guardian - Film News
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