Folks, Here is a review from today's (May 15) nytimes.com that I would like
to share with the list.

   May 15, 2000

   MUSIC REVIEW
   Evoking Gloires of Heaven in a Rare Messiaen Opera
   By PAUL GRIFFITHS

   Rapture.  The Brooklyn Philharmonic's presentation of three scenes
   from Messiaen's opera "St. Francois d'Assise," at the Brooklyn
   Academy of Music on Saturday night, was a triumph for all concerned:
   the enormous orchestra spread out on a large stage, the chorus (the
   Westchester Oratorio Society) that brought celestial glory and strength
   to the close, the magnificent central soloists (David Wilson-Johnson
   as the Saint and Heidi Grant Murphy as the Angel), and the conductor,
   Robert Spano, encouraging them all to shocks of brilliance, strangeness
   and warmth.

   Every expectation was fulfilled by a performance that had long been
   awaited, for more than a decade has passed since any of this music
   was heard in New York.  One has to hope the appreciative audience
   included some with the power and authority to bring the city a stage
   production of the complete work.  If so, there will be no need to
   look far in casting the two principal roles.  Mr. Wilson-Johnson
   not only was supremely sure throughout but also made gentleness --
   which one easily takes for a quiet quality -- speak with a big, strong
   voice.  His phrasing was smooth, beautifully paced to the orchestral
   performance and his sound glowed.

   True to the nature of Messiaen's music, he did not try to exaggerate
   the different emotional conditions of Francis in the two scenes of
   his included here: his dialogue with the Angel and his departure
   for heaven.  (The other scene performed was that of the Angel's
   appearance at the young Franciscan monastery.) Everything was calm
   and certain, and alive.

   Ms. Grant Murphy was also beautifully, serenely and wonderfully
   consistent.  And she, too, shone.  Undeterred by her part's slow
   tempos, generously taken by Mr. Spano, she produced phrases that
   were finely sustained, and yet each note seemed to have a shape of
   its own, floating out from or into silence.

   Often those shapes would be defined by the vowels and consonants, as
   if the language itself were singing.  But all of them were sweet and
   clear.

   Among those in smaller roles, John Aler repeated his unaffected and
   touching portrayal of Brother Masseo, familiar from the Salzburg
   recording.  Lawrence Long, singing superbly, was warm, wise and kind
   as Brother Bernardo.  Randall Scarlata brought out a nice naivete in
   Brother Leone.  Michael Lockley was Brother Elia.

   The score is a hugely complex one to put together for one evening,
   and in the orchestra there were occasional marks of anxiety and
   indecision.  But they mattered very little.

   Mr. Spano spurred his players to marvelous feats in the gigantic
   bell sounds and in the shrieks and warblings imitative of bird song.
   He also gave the music a strong expressive force, as at one point in
   Francis's opening monologue in the final scene, in which a kind of
   barbaric funeral march is suddenly followed by swooping, inward,
   blended music.

   Filling the air above the orchestra with azure light and dangling
   reflective patches was a bright idea that failed.  The work is a
   drama and needs to be seen and heard as such, soon.

Ron Chaplin
Iselin, NJ, USA