Dead Man Walking
This review originally appeared in the Winter 2002 issue of Opus magazine.
reviewed by Colin Eatock
Jake Heggie/Terence McNally
San Francisco Opera and Chorus, San Francisco Girls’ Chorus, San Francisco Boys’ Chorus, Golden Gate Boys’ Chorus; Patrick Summers, conductor.
Erato 86238-2
About 20 years ago, I attended a convention of music critics where conductor Sarah Caldwell spoke about opera. In her talk, the indomitable founder of the Opera Company of Boston complained about composers whose approach to writing an opera is to “select a popular novel and then write film music.”
It’s a very tempting method, but it’s ultimately a trap – and the latest to fall victim to this formula is American composer Jake Heggie.
Heggie and librettist Terrence McNally have based their opera on a true story about a prisoner on Death Row and the nun who helps him come to terms with his fate – and it is clearly a work that aspires to be “important.” To its creators’ credit, there’s nothing modest, apologetic or half-hearted about Dead Man Walking. As such, it deserves comparison with some of the most effective operas ever written: as theatre, it’s as soul-searching as Dialogues of the Carmelites, as earthy and raw as Cavalleria Rusticana and as emotionally compelling as Madama Butterfly.
But musically there are problems. In some places Heggie tries to bridge the gap between serious and popular American music, which is good; but in this he’s not as good as Gershwin or Bernstein, which is bad. In other places the music sounds rather like John Adams, which is good; but it’s not as good as Adams, either, which is also bad. Mostly, it’s like film music, which is bad; but as film music, it is remarkably good, which is only a little better.
In this recording from the San Francisco Opera, baritone John Packard sings the role of the condemned murderer Joseph De Rocher with conviction (no pun intended); but at times he is overshadowed by soprano Susan Graham’s tour-de-force performance as Sister Helen. Mezzo Frederica von Stade gives a simple but effective reading of De Rochers’ mother. Conductor Patrick Summers leads the SFO Orchestra and Chorus, the SF Girls’ Chorus, the SF Boys’ Chorus and the Golden Gate Boys’ Chorus in a well paced performance.
I admire Heggie’s earnest attempt to bring clarity, poignancy, and a sense of grandeur back to opera. But he has only partially succeeded.
© Colin Eatock 2002
reviewed by Colin Eatock
Jake Heggie/Terence McNally
San Francisco Opera and Chorus, San Francisco Girls’ Chorus, San Francisco Boys’ Chorus, Golden Gate Boys’ Chorus; Patrick Summers, conductor.
Erato 86238-2
About 20 years ago, I attended a convention of music critics where conductor Sarah Caldwell spoke about opera. In her talk, the indomitable founder of the Opera Company of Boston complained about composers whose approach to writing an opera is to “select a popular novel and then write film music.”
It’s a very tempting method, but it’s ultimately a trap – and the latest to fall victim to this formula is American composer Jake Heggie.
Heggie and librettist Terrence McNally have based their opera on a true story about a prisoner on Death Row and the nun who helps him come to terms with his fate – and it is clearly a work that aspires to be “important.” To its creators’ credit, there’s nothing modest, apologetic or half-hearted about Dead Man Walking. As such, it deserves comparison with some of the most effective operas ever written: as theatre, it’s as soul-searching as Dialogues of the Carmelites, as earthy and raw as Cavalleria Rusticana and as emotionally compelling as Madama Butterfly.
But musically there are problems. In some places Heggie tries to bridge the gap between serious and popular American music, which is good; but in this he’s not as good as Gershwin or Bernstein, which is bad. In other places the music sounds rather like John Adams, which is good; but it’s not as good as Adams, either, which is also bad. Mostly, it’s like film music, which is bad; but as film music, it is remarkably good, which is only a little better.
In this recording from the San Francisco Opera, baritone John Packard sings the role of the condemned murderer Joseph De Rocher with conviction (no pun intended); but at times he is overshadowed by soprano Susan Graham’s tour-de-force performance as Sister Helen. Mezzo Frederica von Stade gives a simple but effective reading of De Rochers’ mother. Conductor Patrick Summers leads the SFO Orchestra and Chorus, the SF Girls’ Chorus, the SF Boys’ Chorus and the Golden Gate Boys’ Chorus in a well paced performance.
I admire Heggie’s earnest attempt to bring clarity, poignancy, and a sense of grandeur back to opera. But he has only partially succeeded.
© Colin Eatock 2002