Prom 72 (5.9.12): John Adams – Nixon in China

**bluestateprommer** · 04-09-12, 03:24

I was half-wondering whether Alice Goodman would travel to the RAH for this Nixon in China Prom, especially after reading the NYT review some time back of the premiere of NiC at the Metropolitan Opera which mentioned that AG took a bow at the final curtain call. The Saint Louis classical critic who's following the Saint Louis Symphony just answered my question:

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/culture-club/on-the-road-with-the-slso-london-first-day/article_84c5abd2-f5a9-11e1-9eab-0019bb30f31a.html

"The SLSO plays the Proms on Tuesday night; Goodman's going there on Wednesday for Nixon."

Given that Goodman and Adams had an initial major falling-out in the wake of The Death of Klinghoffer, and a final major falling-out over Doctor Atomic (hmm, weird choice of words on my part), the idea of the two of them on stage to take a bow together is a nice thought. Anyone on the Forum going to be at this one?

**prokkyshosty** · 04-09-12, 09:30

Yo, I'll be there dawg. I'll give y'all the 411 on whether they be all up in each other's grillz, or if they, like, hug it out, know what I'm sayin'? Peace OUT!*

*dear British friends, this is how Americans address each other in private.

**jayne lee wilson** · 04-09-12, 18:13

Very keen to hunker down in my armchair for this one, greatly aided by the libretto booklet from the de Waart recording... hope life don't get in the way! (Oh God, I'm doing it now...)

Already sorted out something for Mum to put in the oven while I'm surviving on coffee...

**Bryn** · 05-09-12, 20:39

I decided it was time I set up for another comparison of media (FM, DAB and HDS). DAB and FM (to 44.1kHz, 24 bit) are going fine but the HDS failed after about 22 minutes, so that will have to wait until it gets to the 'Listen Again' stage on the iPlayer. I'm certainly enjoying listening to the performance via FM at the moment. I do wish that some enterprising company would release the old production jointly sponsored and broadcast by Channel 4, or even the Met production (at a pinch).

**jayne lee wilson** · 05-09-12, 21:38

Wonderful performance of a most goddamn wonderful piece! Wasn't it? It was!
A great night in the HD Home Concert Hall, and a highlight of the season!

(I had great problems with dropouts on HD-Hi a couple of weeks ago, but a simple change of adsl filter (after 3 years) cured it completely - I guess you've checked that already?)

...And I'm starving, and need something more than coffee now... (as the cheers go on...)

**edashtav** · 05-09-12, 21:42

Nixon has a strong libretto and the individual microphones used by the solo singers ensure that their words project against the variegated and lively, rhythmic music of the orchestra and chorus.

I feel that the Opera starts rather slowly, that its “prelude” mimics 18th century models of overtures to ignore whilst you settle into your seat and consult the programme. There are too many times throughout the first two acts when I hear almost straight cribs of Stravinsky from The Rite of Spring to the two later symphonies. Having said that, more than once I realised the unpaid debts that some works of Michael Torke owe to Adams, particularly in passages written for woodwind instruments.

The music of Nixon builds an impressive momentum and I like how its memorable ideas develop, expand and interact. The vocal lines are adequate but rarely take flight, the libretto is excellent and the use of the chorus is exemplary. Few composers have successfully attempted contemporary political subjects – with all their inherent risks, and John Adams deserves much credit as does his librettist, Alice Goodman. Oh, that they remain co-conspirators producing new works to equal such a moving and relevant piece.

This evening’s performance was carefully paced by the composer, who never forced his singers away from their comfort zones. Occasionally, intonation of the leading singers was less than perfect and I did feel that the orchestra’s concentration dipped from time to time – which was shown by “squishy” chording. But, overall a very great success and the piece is just the ticket for the Proms. It reminded me how silly I’ve been to have missed both fully-staged performances and the chance to be in the RAH tonight, particularly as the recent outbreak of coughing seemed to have subsided.

**Bryn** · 05-09-12, 21:53

Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post

... (I had great problems with dropouts on HD-Hi a couple of weeks ago, but a simple change of adsl filter (after 3 years) cured it completely - I guess you've checked that already?) ...

I'm not on ADSL. I'm on Virgin Media cable (ntlworld). I'll get the HDS version from the iPlayer in the morning.

**Simon B** · 05-09-12, 22:08

Hugely involving experience in the hall (admittedly in part due to a varying struggle to follow the words without a libretto owing to more RAH/BBC competence in the shape of not printing enough programmes for a concert that's been almost sold out for ages. Thanks chaps. Again. Yet again).

Some arena dwellers were a little (um...) unhappy at the use of amplification. This, in my ignorance, I imagine to be HIPP?

Some pretty startling vocal acrobatics from Ms Kim in act II! Finley as commanding of the attention as ever, and diction which in his case made the lack of libretto a non issue.

Among the highlights of the season IMO.

Someone was asking (here, elsewhere? can't remember), so yes, Alice Goodman did join Adams and the cast in some of the many bows.

**Nick Armstrong** · 05-09-12, 22:27

Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post

Wonderful performance of a most goddamn wonderful piece! Wasn't it? It was!
A great night in the HD Home Concert Hall, and a highlight of the season!

(I had great problems with dropouts on HD-Hi a couple of weeks ago, but a simple change of adsl filter (after 3 years) cured it completely - I guess you've checked that already?)

...And I'm starving, and need something more than coffee now... (as the cheers go on...)

I thought the reception less tumultuous than I was expecting.

I only just made it to the end, only the company of friends prevented a runner at each interval. Some nice sonorities, but done to death and/or derivative. Being brutally honest, I found it tiresome and not particularly memorable (thankfully).

**Belgrove** · 05-09-12, 23:11

This was the best Prom I've attended this season (so far). The amplification was rather wearing after a while, but this is a minor cavil. The soloists were all exemplary, but a special mention to Alan Oke whose portrayal of Mao in all his unstable capriciousness was chilling. This is the most convincing performance of this work I have seen, not least through having the composer conduct, a privilege to witness it. Adams brought a Straussian lushness to the ballet in act 2 that I have never registered before.

Heartwarming to see Adams and Goodman exchange hugs and kisses at the end.

This was a rather special event. Can tomorrow night's concert top it?

**amac4165** · 05-09-12, 23:27

Originally posted by Simon B View Post

Some arena dwellers were a little (um...) unhappy at the use of amplification. This, in my ignorance, I imagine to be HIPP?

.

It was "boosted" - which was noticeable in the hall - I guess the home listener had the best of it as it did not sound brilliant in the hall and the semi staging curtailed by the fact the singers all had scores. I believe it was boasted at the Met (I saw the HD broadcast) although I am by no means 100% sure on that.

Overall a very enjoyable evening none the less

amac

**jayne lee wilson** · 06-09-12, 01:20

This proms season has been bookended by two operatic masterpieces - Debussy's Pelleas and the Adams' Nixon in China - which extended the expressive possibilities of the form whilst still clearly belonging to its tradition.

Whilst I catch the odd echo of Le Sacre, or the Wagnerian evocations after the storm in act 2, I don't hear the work as essentially or troublingly derivative, more a larger-scale development of Adams' preceding orchestral and vocal works such as Common Tones in Simple Time, Shaker Loops and Harmonium. The Emily Dickinson settings of the latter have clear links to the opera in the wide-ranging use of the chorus - except that the opera goes further still. The melodic and rhythmic inventiveness of the score seems endless, but the structure is firm and clear - as each act grows shorter (3 Scenes, then 2, then 1) the music increases in emotional range and subtlety and becomes more tenderly expressive.

Amongst a fine cast, I thought Jennifer Rivera as Pat Nixon (soaring wonderfully at "This is prophetic"), and Kathleen Kim as Madame Mao (magnificent at "I am the wife of Mao-tse-tung" and lovely in her duet with Mao "Peking watches the stars") were outstanding, and the chorus sang with great clarity and projection. At home (on R3 HD-Hi) I was using the libretto from the de Waart recording but could hear most of the words very well. I was aware of the amplification, but it was rather gentler than that applied to the Bernstein Mass earlier in the season and didn't trouble me too much. Could Adams have driven his orchestra a little harder? Perhaps, but the vocal and orchestral transparency was very well balanced by conductor and engineers; I revelled in the beauty of the score, not just the big climactic choruses - though these were splendid enough.

I've always responded most readily to Adams' work of the 70s and 80s, rather than the more complex contrapuntal structures of El Dorado, Chamber Symphony etc (fine in their way). Adams described himself in the 1980s as "a minimalist bored with minimalism" and in works like Harmonium and Harmonielehre the result is a genuinely new music, one which I think finds its peak in Nixon in China.

**Il Grande Inquisitor** · 06-09-12, 02:44

My review is now online at Opera Britannia:

Opera Britannia - Now That's Entertainment

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=770:nixon-in-china-prom-72-5th-september-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

In the last decade, the channels of communication between the customer and the brand have changed dramatically.

A very fine operatic season at the Proms - let's hope for more in 2013.

**french frank** · 06-09-12, 07:50

Originally posted by Il Grande Inquisitor View Post

My review is now online at Opera Britannia:

Thanks, IGI.

[The amplification] hampered stage interaction as singers had to return to their miked music stands to make their vocal contributions.

So (in view of your comment about orchestration) they are usually(?) all individually miked in fully-staged productions?

Prom 72 (5.9.12): John Adams – Nixon in China

Prom 72 (5.9.12): John Adams – Nixon in China

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