Composer: Gordon Getty
Performer: Nathan Granner, Melody Moore, Lester Lynch, Michael Jankosky, Bruce Rameker, Kevin Short, San Francisco Boys Chorus
Orchestra: Barbary Coast Orchestra
Conductor: Dennis Doubin
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Pentatone
Catalogue: PTC5187050
Release: 2025
Size: 3.89 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
CD 01
Act 1
01. Alma Mater, amnis pratum…
02. Chips was the soul of Brookfield.
03. Chips, my good fellow…
04. …there was Kathie
05. Kathie, Kathie…
06. Chips, darling, it’s started.
07. Somehow I walked the three miles back to campus…
08. I suppose I was the first…
09. Call-over: Wayne, Weaver, Webb…
10. Sometimes the mood was somber…
11. There had been talk…
12. Poor Ralston!
13. Kathie, you won’t remember…
CD 02
Act 2
01. Intermezzo
02. Ralston soon went on to better things.
03. Sir, my father was… (Dream sequence)
04. Chips caught bronchitis…
05. Chips had retired from teaching…
06. When the Armistice came in nineteen-eighteen…
07. Mrs. Wickett also told me…
08. Thank you, Miss Bridges.
09. Well, you old ruffian…
10. Alma mater – I thought I heard you…
Pentatone releases Gordon Getty’s fourth opera, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, in a new studio recording featuring Nathan Granner, Melody Moore, Lester Lynch, and Kevin Short, as well as the San Francisco Boys Choir and Barbary Coast Orchestra, under the baton of Dennis Doubin. Based on the popular 1934 novella Goodbye, Mr. Chips and other stories by James Hilton, Goodbye, Mr. Chips tells the heart-warming story of a teacher at Brookfield, an all-boys English boarding school to which “Chips” dedicates most of his adult life. The opera chronicles Chips’ story of love, loss and learning over his decades-long tenure at Brookfield. Along the way, we’re reminded of the difference one good teacher can make as we watch Chips and his children, “thousands of them, and all boys,” enrich each other’s lives.
Writing both the music and libretto of his opera, Getty has shaped Hilton’s cherished story into a memory play, in which the protagonist looks back on important episodes of his life. The score encapsulates the intimacy of the plot and the nuances of its characters. Just like Chips, Getty treats each personality with a profound understanding of-and love for-the human spirit, with all its strengths and flaws. After decades of fascination with the character and story of Mr. Chips, the completion of this opera is the realization of a long-held dream.
Gordon Getty is a PENTATONE artist with a vast discography. Goodbye, Mr. Chips is his fourth opera recording on the label, after Plump Jack (2012), Usher House (2013) and The Canterville Ghost (2015). Melody Moore, Nathan Granner, Lester Lynch and Kevin Short have featured on many PENTATONE recordings. Conductor Dennis Doubin and the San Francisco Boys Chorus make their label debut.
