Went last night to the opening of City Opera's "King Arthur" (Henry Purcell), choreographed by Mark Morris. If you've never been there, City Opera is an experience architecturally. I hadn't been in a few years, so had forgotten how like the last image of the opening of "The X Files" its version of a chandelier is... Anyway, "King Arthur" was a delight, though there was one thing one needed to know which we didn't figure out until the intermission. The piece has spoken as well as sung parts, and Mark Morris simply dropped all the former. Since the speaking parts included King Arthur and most of the other main characters, there was no plot. But once we recognized that - it was more like enjoying Mendelssohn's incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream - it was purest joy. Morris has an incredible sense for music, and his dancers respond to every smallest figure and texture in the music. And the orchestra, choir and soloists were terrific, too. In fact, divorced from the pretense of telling a story, every scene shone!
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Arthurian
Went last night to the opening of City Opera's "King Arthur" (Henry Purcell), choreographed by Mark Morris. If you've never been there, City Opera is an experience architecturally. I hadn't been in a few years, so had forgotten how like the last image of the opening of "The X Files" its version of a chandelier is... Anyway, "King Arthur" was a delight, though there was one thing one needed to know which we didn't figure out until the intermission. The piece has spoken as well as sung parts, and Mark Morris simply dropped all the former. Since the speaking parts included King Arthur and most of the other main characters, there was no plot. But once we recognized that - it was more like enjoying Mendelssohn's incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream - it was purest joy. Morris has an incredible sense for music, and his dancers respond to every smallest figure and texture in the music. And the orchestra, choir and soloists were terrific, too. In fact, divorced from the pretense of telling a story, every scene shone!
