It is just over a week that I went to see the New York Metropolitan Opera's John Adams's Dr Atomic transmitted live to Clapham Picturehouse - in HD, as all the publicity emphasises. This is the production that has just finished its try-out run in New York before making its world premier at English National Opera next year. There is a previous production that debuted in San Francisco, got recorded for DVD in Amsterdam and transferred to Chicago.
I intend to see the London production at least twice and will review those performances in depth, from within the house. I have listened to an audio recording (from SF) a couple of times but haven't yet watched the Amsterdam DVD. I think my enjoyment of the HD broadcast would have been improved by better 'homework', but I already planned it to be part of my 'homework' for ENO.
I can't say I love Dr Atomic as an opera, in the same way that I can say about other potentially great 21st Century operas such as Ades's The Tempest or Birtwhistle's The Minotaur. Indeed, if Gerald Finley were reviving his role in Saariaho's L'amour de loin, I would be looking forward to that more than Dr. A. (Hey, we've got Gerry in Peter Grimes and Die Tote Stadt (ROH) as well as Doctor Atomic, I shouldn't be so greedy).
I certainly respect Dr Atomic and I am looking forward to seeing it live, and not just for the world's best baritone. I find it thought-provoking and something that might be spiritual. I found it interesting that the inherently conservative ossified New York-centric opera lists have more or less rejected it as worthless - Dr SubAtomic, a NY friend of mine called it - much more so than the San Franciscans. But what has interested me has been the wealth of blogposts from blogs I have never encountered before, people writing thoughtfully about something they found exciting - and okay, some found that it bombed. Perhaps an opera about nuclear physics is likely to attract a more geeky crowd than another bland Zefferelli meaningless interpretation of a 19th century opera that actually has a lot more to say than you'd ever guess from a MetTrash production.
I have gathered the reviews I found useful in magnolia, tag Dr-Atomic
And, of course, check out geraldfinley.info
There are several musical highlights in Dr Atomic, sadly they are separated by too many longeurs. But I would happily sit through all the longeurs and don't care how good the other highlights are, because, even if Dr Atomic falls out of the repertoire, this is definitely the best aria of the 21st century so far and surely one of the great baritone arias - hey, one of the great arias - of all time. It would be interesting to hear someone else sing it, but I doubt that anybody could match the power of this - from the Amsterdam DVD - currently playing on loop at Gert Cottage
Gerald Finley sings Batter My Heart from John Adams's Dr Atomic
