Search - Richard Holmes, Douglas S. Moore, Paul Hindemith :: Happy Endings: Comic Chamber Operas

Great for opera lovers -- even better for opera haters

Timothy Hulsey | Charlottesville, VA United States | 09/10/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These three one-act chamber operas are rare birds indeed, and it's marvelous to have them all on a single compact disc.
The first, "Gallantry: A Soap Opera," is an excellent introduction to the American opera composer Douglas Moore (whose _Ballad of Baby Doe_ is always on the short list of best American operas). This affectionate satire is presented as if it were a television program, complete with fake commercials. The whole enterprise is reminiscent of a middling "Saturday Night Live" sketch, but it's funny enough to withstand any comparison.
Paul Hindemith's "Hin und Zuruck" is probably the most caustic of the operas here, as befits a work dating from the tumultuous Weimar Republic. It depicts a domestic tragedy, then replays the same scene backwards for an improbable comic ending. This could all be delightful in live performance. But on a recording, the visual jokes that stem from running a scene forwards and backwards simply don't register. That said, Hindemith's musical balancing act between highbrow opera and lowbrow cabaret is consistently entertaining, and worth close attention.
The flat-out funniest of the three operas is Gian Carlo Menotti's "The Telephone, or L'Amour a Trois." In this piece a young man finds himself with a problem: His attempts to propose to his fiancee are always interrupted by her telephone. The young man's solution is perfectly ingenious, as is the entire opera. It should be noted that Menotti is one of the few opera composers who writes his own libretti -- and the gently mocking libretto of "The Telephone" is every bit as much fun as the music. (If you only know Menotti from the mawkish Christmas chestnut "Amahl and the Night Visitors," this little masterpiece will be a positive revelation.)
The New York Chamber Ensemble, bravely led by Stephen Rogers Radcliffe, performs with consistent precision and sensitivity. The voices, while clearly opera caliber, do not attempt to overpower the delicate, frequently unconventional instrumentation.
On the whole, the recording is just the ticket for those who believe that all operas are necessarily pretentious and overblown. But it's also a terrific gift for opera lovers, who have most likely never heard these little gems before."