Search - William Mayer, Manhattan School of Music Opera Orchestra, Darrell Babidge :: Mayer: A death in the family

Mayer's opera is a delight

01/15/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was intrigued by the extravagant praise heaped on this recorded work in your Amazon.com customer review spot--an opera by a New York composer whose name I, for one, didn't know. But because I adore the Agee story, I was moved to listen to the recording. I was skeptical, that's for sure.
Well, here's another thumbs up vote for Mr. Mayer's beautiful score--atmospheric, poetic and literary. The thing just captures the original so handsomely and is given the most remarkably sensitive recording--can this be direct from a live performance??? at the Manhattan School of Music. Nothing about this effort sounds remotely like a conservatory effort, and the participant must surely already be on their way to professional careers in both the opera pits and on the stages of companies.
To be sure the subject and the work are dark, but this composer has found just the right note of folksong and whimsy to make the listen a treat. Excellent. I'll add another five stars!!"

Review from American Record Guide

Leo Rubinfien | New York, NY USA | 01/16/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

""...this is one of the best, most poetical opera librettos ever, neatly characterizing the individual characters and placing the emotional story not just in its own proper time frame, but in the larger context of eternity and the situations of all Mankind.""...Mayer has struck a fine balance between the ordinary and the rare, between colloquial prose and high poetry, between fantasy and reality, between humor and tragedy, between folk material and 'classical' music.""The Manhattan performance does fine justice by the work. Diction is extraordinarily clear, helped by the sensible text setting by Mayer.""