Philip Glass’ A Madrigal Opera was written in 1980, in between Einstein on the Beach and Satyagraha–however it is unlike any of his other works in the genre, as it has no story, text, or program of any kind. Glass’ intent was that this piece would serve as a musical backdrop, or a shell to be filled in by a choreographer or director. In his words: “My idea was to write a musical/dramatic work that could, with different direction, be realized with different narrative content.” (If you want more, you’ll find a rambling, borderline-intelligible discussion of this work and the composer’s creative motivation for it on Glass’ website.)
This premiere recording was made by Ooppera Skaala, a Finnish company that specializes in contemporary opera, after a production they did in 2009. In this recording the performers chose to “fill in” the non-musical aspect of the work with text from Lauri Otonkoski’s, “Cameo, a symphonic poem”, but the poem’s influence is difficult to discern on the CD.
In his attempt to imitate a conventional scoring of madrigals, Glass sets the piece for vocal sextet, accompanied by violin and viola. In terms of its sonic character, A Madrigal Opera sounds like many of Glass’ earlier works: repeating organized textures with arpeggiations, rocking chords, and the vocals sung on solfege syllables. The vocal writing is richer than that of Einstein On the Beach, his first opera, using more typical vocal ensemble techniques. The piece does not have the melodic and often more programmatic feeling that you find in some of his later works like Satyagraha.
Ooppera Skaala’s recording is somewhat disappointing. I would never say that Glass’ music is easy to perform, but there are intonation issues throughout the recording, both from the strings and the vocalists. The singers manage to pull things together during the more lyric sections, but many of the staccato passages are painful. The only performer who survives the piece is the violist Max Savikangas, who nimbly plays the large viola solo in Part III, which is pleasantly reminiscent of Bach’s cello suites.
The recording is no better than the performances. Many of the faults you hear in the strings would not have been an issue had the microphone been placed at a judicious distance. Added reverb only serves to let small errors linger in the air. In addition there are mechanical rumblings like those of a truck or plane that intrude periodically.
A Madrigal Opera certainly will be of interest to die-hard Glass fans and to devotees of the minimalist style. However, owing to the sub-standard quality of the performances and recording I could not recommend the disc to anyone else. You know if you want this.
