EAN: 0827949069062

This is the fifth in the American Operas series released on the Netherlands' audiophile Pentatone label. Classical music in general has much less penetration into American cultural life t… Mehr…

This is the fifth in the American Operas series released on the Netherlands' audiophile Pentatone label. Classical music in general has much less penetration into American cultural life than it does in Europe, yet there are areas, such as wind band music, where Americans excel and are widely recognized for doing so. Another is opera: American composers (a list must begin with {|John Adams|}) have a knack for connecting with audiences, forging musical languages that are accessible without being retro or nostalgic, and, more important, for finding libretto topics that are compelling for ordinary audiences. To that list must now be added composer {|Mason Bates|} who, with librettist {|Mark Campbell|}, offers this work about Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. If there are biopics, this is a biopera (?), depicting episodes in Jobs' life as well as his untimely death. The disagreeable sides of his personality appear but are not dwelt on, and in fact, part of the charm of the music is hearing such abrupt lines as No crap software is going to mess up my machine set to traditional operatic music that makes few concessions to popular style. There are sparingly added electronic elements, which combine with a descending tuba-and-percussion figure to form a recurring motif. Pentatone's engineers, working in what were surely unfamiliar surroundings, capture this figure in full sonic color, and if you have the equipment, it'll shake the walls. They also achieve absolute clarity in the voice parts, and one factor producing the roars of applause at the end and at several junctures of the single-act work is the vocal directness of Edward Parks as Jobs and of the rest of the strong cast. Conductor {|Michael Christie|} and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra keep things moving along, and the presence of Jobs' spiritual advisor Kobun China Otogawa (Wei Wu) and of the women in Jobs' life adds mystical and lyrical elements to the score. The idea of writing an opera about Jobs seems strange, but suspend disbelief for a moment and you'll find the conceptual leap is no greater than that required for other operas. Superbly recorded, this is a grand success whose appeal should last through other engagements in Seattle and San Francisco. Music>Music>Classical>Classical Artist>Class Artist, Pentatone Core >3<

2018, ISBN: 0827949069062

Brand: PENTATONE, Binding: Audio CD, Label: Pentatone (Naxos Deutschland Musik & Video Vertriebs-), Publisher: Pentatone (Naxos Deutschland Musik & Video Vertriebs-), NumberOfDiscs: 2, Nu… Mehr…

Brand: PENTATONE, Binding: Audio CD, Label: Pentatone (Naxos Deutschland Musik & Video Vertriebs-), Publisher: Pentatone (Naxos Deutschland Musik & Video Vertriebs-), NumberOfDiscs: 2, NumberOfItems: 2, PackageQuantity: 2, Format: Hybrid SACD, medium: Audio CD, releaseDate: 2018-06-15, artists: Michael Christie, Santa Fe Opera, composers: Mason Bates Musik, Michael Christie<

EAN: 0827949069062

Books Media, Pentatone