Kepler - an Opera by Phillip Glass
Kepler Martin Achrainer, center rear, sings the title role in Philip Glass’s new opera about the astronomer and mathematician, with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz a the Brooklyn Academy.
Glass Looks to the Heavens, Again
Philip Glass clearly enjoys examining ideas from just about every angle, and that applies as fully toopera subjects as to specific musical moves. His earliest operas, for example, were about historical figures who changed the way their societies thought: Einstein, in “Einstein on the Beach”; Gandhi, in “Satyagraha”; and the monotheistic Egyptian pharaoh, Akhnaten, in the opera that bears his name.
In recent years he has returned to that theme, with a twist. In “Galileo Galilei,” his 18th opera, from 2001, he used scenes from the life of the astronomer and mathematician to examine the fraught relationship between science and religion.
Mr. Glass’s 23rd opera, “Kepler,” arrived at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Wednesday evening, and its essence is strikingly familiar: he uses scenes from the life of another astronomer and mathematician — a contemporary of Galileo, each having straddled the 16th and 17th centuries — to examine again the relationship between science and religion. The issues are less fraught this time, but still weighty and tangled.
In both works the scientists expound on the theories that made them famous, and that can make for some dry moments in the opera house. When, for example, Kepler asks, “Is it cold that gives snow its starry shape?” and then ponders the question from several angles, or when he explains the scientific method (“First, we pose our hypothesis”) and his theories of how the planets’ orbits are shaped, chills do not run up your spine.
“Galileo,” at least, had its protagonist’s persecution by the church to deal with, and Mr. Glass wisely included an Inquisition scene. The most dramatic moment in “Kepler,” which has a libretto by Martina Winkel drawn largely from Kepler’s writings, is his accounting of his own character flaws, and how he made enemies of most of his colleagues.
Not that we meet those colleagues, or see their animosity in action. Kepler is the only named character; the six other soloists are Soprano 1, Soprano 2 and so on down the vocal ranges, and although several have brief moments in the spotlight, they mostly work as a chamber choir.
The performance was described as a concert staging. The soloists and the larger Choir of the Upper Austrian State Theater, from Linz, marched on and off the stage regularly, reconvening either behind the Bruckner Orchestra Linz or in front of it. As Kepler, Martin Achrainer, wore a patchwork leather coat and walked around the stage looking thoughtful, troubled or dour.
Maybe the biggest problem with “Kepler” is that it is called an opera. As an opera, it is exceedingly nondramatic. But as an oratorio, it works brilliantly.
Oratorios allow for the presentation of ideas without the expectation of action. And the ideas here — not least, Kepler’s almost continuous struggle to show that science and religion are separate, noncompeting realms, and that his discoveries are not a disavowal of God — are worth exploring.
They are even timely, given the increasingly corrosive debates about evolution and creationism. At one point Kepler argues that the church should treat literalist readings of the biblical creation story as a form of heretical abuse.
Mr. Glass’s score includes many of his trademark moves: the repeating chords on a foursquare beat, as well as with syncopations of various kinds, usually in minor keys; the scale figures and arpeggios (now increasingly angular); the swirling string and flute effects; and the use of a minor third as an engine of sorts. There is no chance you’ll be wondering who the composer is.
But “Kepler” offers quite a few novel touches as well, including a colorful use of pitched percussion instruments and hollow blocks, often paired with rumbling bass lines. Mr. Glass’s vocal writing is more varied that it once was: Mr. Achrainer’s first aria takes him nearly to the high and low extremes of his range, a test he handled beautifully, and the choral writing includes several vigorous pieces, including a few biblical settings.
Dennis Russell Davies, unquestionably Mr. Glass’s most eloquent interpreter these many years, kept the musical focus on the work’s novel touches, and on the beauty and power of the vocal writing. But the Bruckner Orchestra Linz has sounded better: the strings and woodwinds produced a rich, warm tone, but the brasses, which have several exposed passages, seemed to be having a hard time playing in tune.
Kepler
Part of the 2009 Next Wave Festival
Nov 18, 20 & 21 at 7:30pmAn Opera by Philip GlassLibretto by Martina Winkel
Bruckner Orchestra Linz
Conducted by Dennis Russell DaviesNote: This is a concert staging"...one of the most influential—and controversial—contemporary composers... the founding father of minimalism." —The Guardian (UK) Regarded as one of the most important composers of our time, minimalist pioneer Philip Glass continues to enthrall audiences around the world with his ever-evolving operas, orchestral works, and film scores. With Kepler, Glass pushes into the sonic and celestial beyond in a concert version of his opera about Johannes Kepler (1571—1630), a founding father of modern science who discovered the laws of planetary motion. Spacious, elemental, and imbued with wonder, Glass' hypnotic score becomes the sound of the cosmos as we witness Kepler struggling to reconcile scientific discovery with the divine. Celebrated conductor Dennis Russell Davies and Bruckner Orchestra Linz support a stellar cast and 42-member chorus drawn from the Upper Austrian State Theatre, Linz, in this illuminating portrait of science at the dawn of our modern age.
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
Approx 120min with no intermission
Tickets: $20, 40, 65
In German and Latin with English titles
Featuring soloists and choir of the Upper Austrian State Theatre, Linz Commissioned by Upper Austrian State Theatre, Linz, and by Linz09, Cultural Capital of Europe.
Preview: 'Musical Minds'
Comments [0]