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Floyd: Susannah

~ Carlisle Floyd

4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product details

Performer: Cheryl Studer, Jerry Hadley, Samuel Ramey, Kenn Chester
Orchestra: Lyon Opera Chorus, Lyon Opera Orchestra
Conductor: Kent Nagano
Composer: Carlisle Floyd
Audio CD (26 Sep 1994)
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 2
Label: Classics
ASIN: B000002SQB
Other Editions: MP3 Download

Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 41,099 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Popular in these categories:

#2 in	Music > Classical Instrumental > Performers > A-Z > Q-R > Ramey, Samuel
#2 in	Music > Classical Instrumental > Performers > A-Z > K-L > Lyon Opera
#3 in	Music > Classical Instrumental > Performers > A-Z > S-T > Studer, Cheryl

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Disc 1:

On this CD:

Susannah
Composed by Carlisle Floyd
Performed by Lyon Opera Chorus, Lyon Opera Orchestra
with Cheryl Studer, Jerry Hadley, Samuel Ramey, Kenn Chester, Michael Druiett, Steven Cole, Stuart Kale, David Pittsinger, Anne Howells, Della Jones, Jean Glennon, Elisabeth Laurence
Conducted by Kent Nagano

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4.0 out of 5 stars A likeable American modernist-folk opera in a comfortable idiom, 7 Dec 2008

By	Basiledes (North Wales) - See all my reviews

The musical style is entirely familiar from Coplands music of the American West and from Samuel Barber. For example, the beautiful aria 'Aint it a chilly night' famous in the U.S., is so similar to Barber's 'Knoxville' that many people could easily mistake one for the other. Knoxville and it's tall buildings and mail order catalogues are even mentioned in the words making it a sort of rural response to that other American song to the night. In my book that is a good thing . If one of something is good , then two is better. It takes the strain off the first one that stands less chance of being played to death.
A first opera written by the 28 year old composer and performed in 1955, this work could be said to be an attempt to do for poor Appalachian whites of the period (the late 40's), what 'Porgy and Bess' did for poor blacks. But perhaps the closer parallel is 'Peter Grimes' as both operas are about non-conformist outsiders who are ostracised and morally condemned by the conventional local townsfolk.
The music sounds so comfortable that I can't imagine anyone not liking this opera which is based on the 'biblical' story of Susannah and the elders. There is only one problem, and that is the over broad folk accents of some of this American cast which verges on parody. One could understand an English cast sounding like this in their over-enthusiasm to sound authentic but it is surprising that a U.S. cast should overdo it to this extent. I have to admit there is the obvious similarity to 'Porgy' which is a precise equivalent and might appear to justify it and there is a basis for it in the text which was written by Floyd. But did Nagano have to abide by this? There is even a credit for the dialect coach. Nagano very probably did have to do it this way because Floyd seems to have supervised this recording to make it the definitive one.
But the more you play it the less annoying it is. The real problem is with Studer who lays it on thick in the recit passages and makes Susannah sound much older than she is, and less innocent and appealing than she needs to be. Her strong accent thickens her voice. But she does better with the more lyrical passages where there is less characterisation. Studer has long been associated with the opera which has had hundreds of performances in the States. I don't know how many she has done.
The performances are all excellent. Ramey is particularly good as the preacher, and his accent is not too extreme. I would have given it 5 stars if it hadn't been for those rustic impersonations which for me work against its universality. The only dramatic value it has is to underline that Susannah, her brother and friends are from the wrong side of the tracks as distinct from the elders.
This opera is fully successful in its mixture of folk styles with more sophisticated mainstream modernist orchestration and highly dramatic and expressive vocal passages and I would very much like to see a lot more musical theatre as accessible as this. This is the way to normalise opera for contemporary audiences by which I mean that drama in this 'realistic' musical form should be as unexceptional a way of presenting a story as the ordinary form of theatre.
An opera which should have been helpful in this direction is 'Streetcar Named Desire' by Andre Previn but that does not seem as successful despite having impressive passages.
Other operas worth considering are 'Regina' by Mark Blitzstein and 'The Consul' by Menotti. The first of these is equally American but the second is European mainstream. These days of course music can be mainstream and yet marginalised in favour of the avant garde at the same time. The only exception is Britten.

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