Search - Tod Machover, Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Joyce DiDonato :: Resurrection--Complete Opera

Resurrection--Complete Opera
Tod Machover, Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Joyce DiDonato
Resurrection--Complete Opera
Genre: Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (19) - Disc #1
  •  Track Listings (16) - Disc #2

Tod Machover's opera Resurrection (based on the Leo Tolstoy novel of the same name) presents an overall impression of tough personal and political issues expressed through music that's essentially soft of heart. Ambling ly...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Tod Machover, Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Joyce DiDonato, Scott Hendricks, Patrick Summers
Title: Resurrection--Complete Opera
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Albany Records
Release Date: 2/26/2002
Genre: Classical
Style: Opera & Classical Vocal
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaCD Credits: 2
UPC: 034061049524

Synopsis

Amazon.com
Tod Machover's opera Resurrection (based on the Leo Tolstoy novel of the same name) presents an overall impression of tough personal and political issues expressed through music that's essentially soft of heart. Ambling lyrical lines evoke images of a conference call between Barber, Bernstein, and Sondheim, moderated by John Adams. Act 2's opening march similarly tows a musical canvass suggesting the brooding side of Shostakovich filtered through his American Hollywood imitators. Choral Baroque pastiches are cleverly constructed, say what they need to say, and make their exits. While a libretto is provided, you really don't need one. The story line's dramatic tension and characters' inner needs come across through Machover's exceptionally clear text settings. Computer-enhanced sound sources supplement the modest, unplugged instrumental forces: sometimes with subtle underpinning of bass lines, other times in ways where "effects" pull focus from the composer's deft and transparent orchestrations, such as in Act 2's flogging scene. The solo singing is outstanding, notably in the principal roles. Scott Hendricks' ringing tenor is just right for Prince Nekhlyudov, and soprano Joyce DiDonato creates a moving, multidimensional portrait of Katerina. Those who know Tod Machover's hard-hitting, angular electronic musical theater pieces, like Valis, will probably be surprised by Resurrection and increasingly moved as the work progresses. --Jed Distler

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CD Reviews

A Musical Disgrace
John | Berlin, Germany | 09/26/2004
(1 out of 5 stars)

"I heard this opera live in Boston. The composer may well be a computer genius, but as a composer he lacks the most basic skills. I suggest he studies counterpoint, harmony, and real orchestration (not fixing up afterwards with computers) from scratch. After the exhaustingly unimaginative pseudo-barroque, nuddle-soup-as-counterpoint openning, in some sort of a D minor, I was already ready to leave the theater. Also as a person with a Russian background I was seriously offended to see Russian peasants singing and dancing to a Celtic-Elizabethan gigue. The opera abounds with mispronounced Russian names (Ignorance begets ignorance!), the vocal writing is awefully boring and cliche at the same time being bland and unmemorable. A singer friend of mine who was one of the soloists complained how poorly the vocal lines were written. If you think Andrew Lloyd Weber is great then you may like this guy too. I think they are both pretty aweful."