Recommended Recordings

A fabulous modern studio recording of a classic American opera. The accents may be a little thick, but Ramey is perfectly cast as the oily Reverend Olin Blitch, and Studer carries the title role with style. Susannah

The Telephone is pretty slight and Hin and Zuruck is just plain strange, but Gallantry is one of Douglas Moore's best works. Gallantry is an operatic "soap opera," complete with soap commercials and a narrator telling you what to expect next week. The cast is capable and has a sense of comic timing, and the final quartet is magnificent.

Dawn Upshaw chose her songs well for this album. A mix of the favorite and the obscure, all perfectly suited to her voice. Highlights are Laurie's song from Copland's The Tender Land and a nuanced but still but over-the-top performance of "What a movie" from Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti.

Fleming records a very different, but also very interesting, selection of arias than Upshaw. Selections from Susannah, Vanessa, Bernard Hermann's Wuthering Heights, the title song, from Andre Previn's Streetcar Named Desire, and others.

An American gem. The recording isn't ideal, but the opera is essential. Copland's only traditional opera is a real American masterpiece, and Brunelle and the orchestra really seem to understand it. The singers aren't my dream cast (that would be Dawn Upshaw, Juan Diego Florez, Ferrucio Furlanetto as Top, and John Relyea as Grandpa), but for now it's the best recording I've heard of this top-notch score.

John Adams' first opera, and, I think, his best. People call Adams a minimalist, but he belongs in a category all his own. Most importantly, he has a natural sense for text setting. Now if only the telecast was available on video...