Little Women: An Opera in Two Acts

Little Women: An Opera in Two Acts

Little Women: An Opera in Two Acts
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CD Details

Conductor: Mark Adamo
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2001-08-28
Music Label: Ondine
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Four Little Chests All In A Row
  2. Laurie - The Very Same, Madam
  3. Couldn't I Un-bake The Breads
  4. Barrister! It's A Quarter Past!
  5. Again We Meet To Celebrate
  6. Major, Minor
  7. Socks!
  8. Supper, Half An Hour!
  9. Madness. No. Mania No.
  10. Rigmarole? It's Another Game.
  11. There Was a Knight Once
  12. Oh, This Cannot be Borne.
  13. She That IS Down Need Fear No Fall
  14. Our Own Fanny Mendelssohn
  15. Mr. John Brooke, Laurie's Tutor
  16. Long May Our Comrades Prosper Well
  17. Things Change Jo
  18. I Understand. You're Leaving Us
  19. Aunt? Now, I Haven't Done Any Shading Yet
  20. We Stand Together on the old
  21. Jupiter Ammon! The Poetry!
  22. We Stand Together On This Old/New Day
  23. Don't Dare Suggest It, Laurie
Music CD 2
  1. Cockling? Cackling?
  2. Drizzling In New York
  3. But That's Why I Loved It! So Lurid and Preposterous
  4. Kennst Du Das Land, Wo Die Zitronen Bluhn?
  5. Do You Know The Land Where The Lemon Trees Bloom?
  6. It's Lovely. My Father Swears By Him
  7. She's Asked For You
  8. Have Peace Jo
  9. She Who Is Down Need Fear No Fall
  10. That's The Problem With Solitaire: You Always Need A King
  11. My. Jo, Beyond Measure, Mother!
  12. She Sounds Very Happy. I Hope Laurie Feels The Same
  13. You, Alone: A Mansion Of Stone
  14. So The Days Go By, And The Summers Fly
  15. Let Me Look At You

Music reviews of Little Women: An Opera in Two Acts

Music Review: Great cast ..... but it needs some tunes to sing
Rating: 4 Stars

The cast and the orchestra for this recording by the Houston Grand Opera are top notch. Having said that, Mark Adamo's "Little Women" simply begs for a tune now and then. The "Notes" by Mr. Adamo (the prose, not the music) are eloquent and show a marvelous intellect. However, the music resorts to the same non melodic cliches that are the hallmark of a lot of contemporary music. Sorry, but I want to be moved. Even as a psychological drama of sibling relationships, the story line could move a bit more. The word "static" comes to mind.
Incidently, I just performed this opera as an orchestra pit musician. The rubatos and mixed meters are quite challenging, to say the least.

Description of Little Women: An Opera in Two Acts

Mark Adamo's transfer of the Louisa May Alcott novel to the opera stage is an artistic and commercial success. It's been scheduled by numerous opera companies, and this Houston Grand Opera production drew a large audience to its PBS broadcast. The success is due to Adamo's sense of the lyric theatre--his sharply focused libretto that clarifies both story line and the narrative's meaning, and his accessible yet sophisticated music.

Little Women is about change and letting go of the past. This theme and the dramatic conflict it engenders are beautifully encapsulated in two fine Act?I scenes: Jo's "Look at us, Laurie: we're perfect as we are," and Meg's aria, "Things change." Adamo's music is equal to the challenge of his ambitious agenda. The 18-piece orchestra sounds bigger than it is, perhaps because it's always active, moving the story along on its own or commenting on the characters and action. Adamo writes big arias and unapologetically includes expressive coloratura passages. He even dares to write a Schubertian aria on the text of Goethe's "Kennst du das Land," repeating it (with variations) in English. And he injects some humor into the opera, as heard in the delightful scene of Brook's proposal to Meg, an arch snippet about surtitles, and Jo at the offices of a trashy tabloid. The singers are all first-rate, but the opera rises or falls on Jo, the kind of meaty part singers would kill for. Stephanie Novak is marvelous here, singing with passion and projecting Jo's innocence as well as her journey to self-knowledge. Patrick Summers leads a definitive performance of the opera. The recording is drawn from live performances in March 2000. Ondine, a Finnish company, has done American music proud with this release. --Dan Davis

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