A Flowering Tree (2006). John Adams /i hate to say it but kudos to kdfc/

I'm blogging the KDFC broadcast of Adams' The Flowering Tree. Apologies in advance to all involved:

• 801: So KDFC streams from their website. Never knew this.
• 802: It's Dianne Nicolini and she says the sponsors are a bank and a Lexus dealership.
• 804: Rick Malone: There are three main characters in the opera...
• 805: No strange electronic overture as in Doctor Atomic. I'm only a little disappointed.
• 806: The strings go chug, chug, chug.
• 808: The fine Eric Owens who also sang in Doctor Atomic as General Groves starts the action. I assume there is no online libretto so will need to actually pay attention. Uh oh.
• 810: Jeff Dunn praises soprano Jessica Rivera, in particular mentioning her feat of singing while on her back. I won't be able to comment about the latter. He also quips "No harm, no postmodern foul."
• 811: I was a little concerned the opera would fit into KDFC's overall "calming if not comatose" marketing theme but there's too much rhythmic creativity so far.
• 818: Some kind of pipe accompaniment.
• 819: When Eric Owens sings again, a family member asks "is this a ghost singing?"
• 821: It's the usual Adams rich score. Ladies and gentleman,at a minimum, here's America's greatest orchestrator!
• 824: Ok, the strings are reminiscent of Shaker Loops but that's a good thing.
• 825: The chorus jumps in, or something, I can't really tell from just the audio.
• 826: Family member: "ok, I like this."
• 828: I am the wife of Mao Tse-tunnnnnngggggg! Sorry, different Adams opera. Never mind.
• 830: That's the fifth time the stream has dropped for a second.
• 832: Intensity building. Is this the first movement of El Dorado with added chorus? Also a good thing.
• 835: She troubles me followed by a violin solo.
• 838: Everytime I hear an oboe, I now think of everyone's favorite oboe blogger.
• 840: The brass sounds a bit distorted coming out of computer speakers.
• 841: I think this is another of Kumudha's transformations.
• 848: Some transitional percussion and strings and some attractive, clear singing by Rivera.
• 850: I'm still waiting for the first commercial interruption, station identification etc.
• 852: Spoke too soon; if you hit pause and then play on iTunes, a mattress company announces its broadcast sponsorship.
• 853: Weird low woodwind crescendos. I like.
• 857: Michael Kaulkin thinks this opera achieves its dramatic goals, unlike say Dr. Atomic. He also happens to be the guy who can't really understand my being on the John Cage end of the harmonic appreciation/recognition spectrum.
• 901: With no visual cues, my imagination says the character is about to transform into a mattress but I have no idea where I got that idea.
• 905: Can I just say we are now on our second hour of (almost) uninterrupted contemporary classical music on commerical radio? Astounding.
• 905: Compelling segue from orchestra to pipes to vocal.
• 908: That concludes Act 1. Hmm, not bad.

Comments

[G Dan Mitchell]

Any idea if the program is still available?