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0 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Fatuous Dec 30, 2008
All right, I'm not a fan of Adams' music: it's hard to make minimalist music reach very far, which comes down to saying that harmonic stretch is the essence of what makes western classical music work. There might be some disagreement there, which is fine with me.
What bothers me is what bothers me about Adams' other political ("political") operas: he deals with controversial subject matter and then pretends that it's not controversial because he's "seeing all sides." This allows him the intellectually dishonest freedom to both "do" the story and not do the story: he tells the story and then refuses to deal with the simple fact that these stories deal with moral rights and wrongs. If Tom Ferrell is right and we've got still another "America does someone dirty" piece of left-wing claptrap, then that makes my point about Adams right there. On the other hand, Nixon in China, eg. and also the opera that "gave a chance" to muslim terrorists to tell us all about their version of why they kill people from "their own authentic viewpoint": both of these both [...]-foot around in pursuit of the most squishy of squishy leftist peacemongering while at the same time pretending to taking the high road and turning "serious" human situations into "great art" (Adams? Great art? Please.), thereby giving their treatments the factitious appearance of profound, sensitive, perceptive (etc. etc.) insight into "the human struggle."
Sappy.
 A brilliant production BUT Dec 26, 2008
Is the music larger than the production? This is a very powerful work. Almost a horror story but unfortunately the horrible bomb is all too real. The production by librettist and collaborator Peter Sellars is powerful. The story is the creation of the first atomic bomb, and its creator Dr Oppenheimer is the protagonist. Doctor Atomic is must seeing for Gerald Finley alone. This is an awesome performance. He nails the character perfectly. And of course his singing is exemplary as usual. The other singers compliment him very well.
But the question boils down to the music. Is it more than the production? It will be interesting to see how it fares with a new production such as the MET just put on. There are a few arioso sections but not built on melody. Everything is recitative - perhsps influenced by Monteverdi. The music serves the text admirably in its frightening noises - especially when evoking the terror of the bomb. But you certainly won't be humming anything on the way out. Unlike serialism it is not hard to take. But it is quite dry and I wonder if the recitative might be better replaced by talking over the orchestra. It certainly must have been tiring to sing.
9 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Great singing, Beautiful music, horrible filming Nov 22, 2008
This production is 95% very, very close-up full face shots. There are no, zero, full stage shots. Very Occasionally there is a full body shot. There is absolutely no sense of theater at all.
This opera could have been filmed in an 8 x 12 foot room. No sense of space exists. DAS BOOT had more wide shots. Even the dance sequences, by famed choreographer Lucinda Childs, are shown in half body, never in full ensamble. There were close-ups that showed only an EYE, full screen. The average cut away was about every two seconds. The camera never lingered on a singer for more than a second or two. The fine chorus was shown, guess what, as only full face individuals. Gerald Finley was excellent, but did we have to see him in extreme close-up ALL THE TIME. Paul Newman he's not. We have scene after scene of Kitty Openheimer SLEEPING in close-up. There is even a close-up of a plastic baby doll.
This Video is a shame. A wonderful performance ruined by totally inept filming. The video jacket credits the director, Peter Sellers, as the TV director. He must be incompetent or playing a joke on us.
Wait for the Mets HD filming to become available.
3 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 Finley's aria is fantastic, but it's in the wrong opera Nov 16, 2008
When a local theater subscribed to the Metropolitan Opera's HD LIVE series and broadcast DR. ATOMIC on November 8th I decided I shouldn't miss it. I'm not a fan of Adams, but the subject matter is so important, and it had been brought to my doorstep...
DR. ATOMIC has its moments. The first act builds up to a tremendous aria, Gerald Finley singing "Batter My Heart," one of the Holy Sonnets of John Donne, as the character of Robert Oppenheimer. The first scene is the assembled throng of Manhattan Project workers. I was decidedly underwhelmed. The second scene is a love scene with Oppenheimer and his wife Kitty -- much better, with Finley in fine form. Then back to the bomb, with the test blast impending and a rainstorm, building tension. Finally, the Faustian scene with Oppenheimer singing to God. The problem with this is that Oppenheimer was Jewish, and not observant. Yes, he did in fact use Donne's sonnet for the name of the Trinity Test Site in southern New Mexico, but this discrepancy undercut the power of the most powerful scene in DR. ATOMIC for me.
The second act I found to be poorly conceived. The weather and the delay in the test, which took place July 16th, 1945, drives the action, which strikes me as a small and mundane aspect of such a literally earth-shattering series of events. The best part of Act II is Kitty, who in real life was a committed leftist and opponent of the Project, and who in the opera symbolizes the human conscience as well as the archetypal Woman standing against the deadly plans of the men, generals and scientists alike. I was not at all convinced by the addition of a Noble Savage role for the Indian maid Pasqualita and a gallery of impassive male Indians in full regalia. The ending is weak, with a pointed message about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, yes, (148,000 people were killed immediately by the only two atomic bombs ever to have been used in war, and 340,000 including those killed later by radiation poisoning and other effects), but not nearly as effective as the ending of Act I.
Of course the Met's production is not the same original Peter Sellars staging as in this DVD of the Netherlands Opera. I haven't stressed those details, only the basic plot elements. Finley continues in his role as Oppenheimer -- he has sung the part in every production so far, in San Francisco, Amsterdam, Chicago and New York.
As far as Adams's position as a leading American composer, I remain underwhelmed. Minimalism has become merely one element in his eclectic but tonal style, now a sort of audience-friendly PoMo Lite, an acceptable badge of hipness, and Adams continually strives to be a contemporary composer for those who don't like New Music.
0 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Finley alone worth watching Nov 12, 2008
This is an excellant production. If you don't like modern, dissonent opera, then this might not be for you. The production is powerfully done and the singing and symphonic quality top notch.
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