Scott Morrison offered a critic's account of William Bolcom's new opera several days ago. What follows is my own. In 15 years of living near Chicago, I've had the opportunity to see and hear many fine performances at the Lyric Opera. For years, the Lyric has shown a serious commitment to 20th-century work; I've seen memorable productions of "Lulu," Dominick Argento's "The Voyage of Edgar Alan Poe," "Peter Grimes" (stunningly sung by Ben Heppner), "Satyagraha" and "McTeague," while missing other equally significant newer operas. Last night, my wife and I attended a performance of "A View from the Bridge," the Lyric's latest commission, and its second from William Bolcom. The opera itself, and the production in which it is presented, richly deserve all the attention they have received. "A View from the Bridge" is an evening of absolutely gripping musical theater, with equal emphasis on both words. The well-shaped, intelligent libretto moves swiftly and seamlessly through its two acts, building to a climax of shattering intensity. The characters are well drawn, with the possible exception of Mike, a minor character whose repeated interjections of "Yeah" throughout the opera make him close competition with Jar-Jar Binks for the most irritating theatrical character of the year. Bolcom's music is at one with the pacing of the play itself, and serves the stage action brilliantly. Much has been written about the eclecticism of Bolcom's score, with its use of "Paper Doll," in both Italianate and early rock versions, the doo-wop quartet which opens Act II, and other touches which have reminded critics of Gershwin, Bernstein, and others. (My wife noted more than a few occasions which reminded her in one way or another of "Peter Grimes;" certainly the choral writing which frames the beginning and ending of "A View" suggests Britten's use of a similar technique. The use of the chorus actually reminded me a bit of Argento's "Poe.") Some have suggested a certain lack of integrity in the opera's stylistic variety. Having been a student of George Rochberg's multi-gestural techniques, and having followed Bolcom's progress as a composer over many years, I find myself quite undisturbed by Bolcom's wealth of references. Given the opera's melting-pot locale, they are almost inescapable, and fit naturally into the setting. Bolcom weaves these various sounds together in a deft, skillful and seamless manner, which matches and perhaps even surpasses what he accomplished in "McTeague." While he has in the past sometimes leaned toward a post-modern archness that can be self-consciously clever and ironic (e.g. his 1976 Piano Concerto, which I actually like a great deal), in "A View," the composer takes Arthur Miller and the world of Eddie Carbone seriously, and communicates with the audience in a heart-felt, direct, and honest way. It is particularly instructive to set aside the more obvious pop-culture references and listen seriously to the rest of the music in the opera. Bolcom has devised a richly textured, highly flexible harmonic language for the opera, which is sometimes steadfastly tonal (as in the brooding c-minor introduction to Act II), and sometimes highly expressionistic. He relies heavily on the orchestra to link scenes, build tension, and underscore the psychology of the play's many characters. The tension in the finale of Act I is made palpable through the orchestra even before anyone sings a note, and the Eddie's malevolent kisses to his niece Catherine and her illegal alien fiance Rudolpho are absolutely horrific in impact. I doubt that anyone hearing the opera without seeing it can quite experience how tremendously effective all of this is in the theater. In all of this, I hear Bolcom using a voice that is authentically his; a number of musical fingerprints heard here can be found in his music going back several decades, and seem very much at home in this particular work. It's not Bernstein, nor is it high-class Broadway -- it's the work of an wonderfully assured composer who is in complete command of an enormous personal vocabulary. That being said, I'm not sure that this is, as someone put it in print, the first great opera of the 21st century. It is rather the last verismo opera, perhaps one of the finest. The Italianate story line lends itself to such treatment. Told as it were in flashback, the lawyer Alfieri and the chorus in a sense become the traveling players of "Pagliacci." Rudolpho is a tenor, and gets several chances to wax lyrical. His Act I ode to the lights of New York, a very sweet, tender tune (which must be one of the moments in which Bolcom alludes to the song composer Harry Warren), should have a life of its own outside the opera. Certainly, the ghosts of Leoncavallo and Mascagni hover closely over the bass aria, "A Ship Called Hunger," sung by Rudolpho's jailed brother Marco late in the second act. The aria, which has garnered special attention because its lyrics were specially written for the opera by Arthur Miller himself, helps clarify for the audience Marco's feelings of family honor betrayed by Eddie. It also sets up his tragic final confrontation with him, in which his demand that Eddie apologize seems a perhaps unconscious echo of the Commendatore's final and fateful appearance to Don Giovanni. In all of these cases the lyric gift is not borrowed, but is emphatically Bolcom's own, on which he has frequently drawn throughout his career. (Are there any more intoxicating melodies than those in his "Graceful Ghost" and "Last Rag?") The performance and staging are on a very high level indeed. Kim Josephson offers a deeply layered and nuanced theatrical portrayal of Eddie, and sings his role hasndsomely. Juliana Rambaldi and Catherine Malfitano do fine work as Catherine and as Eddie's wife Beatrice. Gregory Turay sings the tenor role of Rudolpho with a lovely Italian coloration, and Mark McCrory finds a great deal of dignity in the role of Marco. Hovering over the entire evening is Timothy Nolen's melancholic, reflective Alfieri. The Lyric Opera Chorus is excellent as always, and in the pit, Dennis Russell Davies brings the same masterful control and sweep to "A View" that he has brought to past productions such as "McTeague" and "Lulu." I wholeheartedly recommend this production to anyone who can still obtain tickets for it. I'm glad to know that New Yorkers will get it at the Met next season, and can only hope that someone will mount a second professional staging of "McTeague," a work whose wonderful second-act passacaglia and desolate final blues ("We're Dean Men") still leave an impression on me. DPHorn, still reflecting on a major musical event.