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SEQUENZA21/
340 W. 57th Street, 12B, New York, NY 10019

Zookeeper:   
Jerry Bowles
(212) 582-3791

Managing Editor:
David Salvage

 Contributing Editors:
Galen H. Brown
Evan Johnson
Ian Moss
Lanier Sammons
Deborah Kravetz
(Philadelphia)
Eric C. Reda
(Chicago)
Christian Hertzog
(San Diego)
Jerry Zinser
(Los Angeles)

Web & Wiki Master:
Jeff Harrington

Latest Posts
Morty Talks. And Talks. And Talks.
Was Ligeti an American?
Living under the shadow of the Eighth
Now for the disco version of Amazing Grace ...
Hey, Kids. Let's Put on a Concert.
When Ligeti met Howard Stern
On Ligeti: Stephen Ferguson Responds
Ligeti-Kubrick
An Open Letter to the Associated Press
The Weekend in Ojai: Dawn Ascendent


 

Record companies, artists and publicists are invited to submit CDs to be considered for review. Send to: Jerry Bowles, Editor, Sequenza 21, 340 W. 57th Street, 12B, New York, NY 10019

Sunday, June 18, 2006
Last Night in L.A.: "Grendel"

We saw "Grendel" last night. I can't imagine wanting to see it again. There are many good things to say about the production, the design, the cast, the orchestra. There are even a few moments when the music is interesting, but they aren't very many. The central problem begins in the first scene (of 12) when the light of Spring hits the wall of ice and the monster Grendel appears. The music written for Grendel never rises above the level of interest you hear in a typical recitative. The composer writes many, many notes for the character; the notes run the range from low bass to high falsetto; the notes are in the rhythm of American English speech; the notes are absolutely uninteresting and do nothing to convey a sense of character or of emotion. This is a rather severe problem since the character appears in every single scene, usually as the dominant factor in each. It seems typical that the most interesting music for Grendel, when he has fallen in love with the Anglo-Saxon queen and dreams of drifting in a boat with her, is written for one of Grendel's shadows, not for the character himself. This is not fun to write. I was hoping for so much more.

The opera was composed by Elliot Goldenthal, who has an admirable career of composing for film and occasionally for stage. The libretto was written by Julie Taymor and J.D. McClatchy; the material is based on the book by John Gardner and on the Beowulf epic. Taymor directed, and George Tsypin designed the set. Eric Owens, General Groves in
"Doctor Atomic", handles all of the notes of Grendel. Laura Claycomb sings brilliantly in her two scenes as queen; Jay Hunter Morris had a good scene as the hero; Denyce Graves had a scene as the dragon, a scene in which the staging was much more interesting than the music. The opera is only three hours long; it seems longer. What a shame.
posted by Jerry Zinser 6/18/2006



 
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