Akhnaten @ Atlanta Opera

Last night, Evan and I went to see the Atlanta Opera perform Philip Glass' third opera, Akhnaten, which portrays the religious sentiments and life of one of ancient Egypt's more-peculiar Pharaohs. When I found out this performance was happening in my own city (being a big Philip Glass fan), I was very excited and was sure to get tickets as soon as I could. I even went to a sort of (super)pre-concert lecture the night before the opera given by an Egyptologist, the librettist, and the stage director for this production. After that presentation though, I began to worry that, like the ASO's performance of Dr. Atomic, this production was going to feature very little in the way of staging, sets, or costumes.

Although this turned out to be true (especially because the performance was held in a smallish chamber music hall not that much bigger than the one where I had my Masters recital), the reason I ended up being fairly disappointed by the performance was not that the production was bad, but rather that I think I've fallen out of love with this piece. Ultimately, I just found Akhnaten to be too needlessly repetitive (even for Glass) and minor (as in the key type), ultimately lacking the sort of interesting rhythm featured in his earlier works or the faster-moving harmonies he was only then developing a sense for. Like his previous opera Satyagraha (which I saw live only a year and a half ago in London), the chorus bits in Akhnaten were too central to the musical action and also rather tedious, leaving me only really enjoying the movements without them (i.e. the beautiful arias) and the introduction and dance interlude.

On a positive note, the countertenor for this production was freaking AMAZING. He was louder than any other soloist in the ensemble, his pitch and tone were spot on, and he played the part better than anyone else in the show. Literally, had it not been for him, the show would have been MUCH worse. That said, all of the other musicians involved did pretty well (I was surprised, actually), but again, this wasn't enough to make up for the shortcomings I now find in Glass' score. Still, I plan on attending a few more events tied to Glass' residency (which officially starts Sunday), so although the opera wasn't so hot, hopefully the rest of the lectures will be...