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Date: | Thu, 8 Apr 1999 00:30:15 -0500 |
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Eric Kisch:
>... what do you then make of Floyd's "Of Mice and Men" which was recently
>done by the Cleveland Opera? The story (and the Steinbeck novella) are
>completely engrossing, so the stage drama works quite well. But I didn't
>see the "music" as adding anything much to the emotional ambience or to
>revealing the characters. The words, which were perfectly understandable,
>even without the supertitles, were expository prose. There was no bite to
>the language or the music for such an epic and human tragedy. Were my wife
>and I alone in this view?
I haven't seen Of Mice and Men. I have, however, attended productions of
two other Floyd operas: Markheim and All the King's Men. Strong, dramatic
subjects to which the music added absolutely nothing. In that sense,
Susanna is musically the strongest Floyd opera I've heard.
That said, I must add that I find Floyd's songs gorgeous, especially the
cycle Pilgrimage. Norman Treigle did a great LP with the New Orleans
Symphony (their only commercial recording, by the way) on Desto. I don't
believe it's been reissued on CD.
Steve Schwartz
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