Composer: John Adams
Performer: Kelley O’Connor, Tamara Mumford, Russell Thomas, Daniel Bubeck, Nathan Medley, Brian Cummings
Orchestra: Los Angeles Philharmonic
Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Size: 2.37 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Kelley O’Connor (Mary)
Tamara Mumford (Martha)
Russell Thomas (Lazarus)
ACT I SCENE 1: JAIL / HOUSE OF HOSPITALITY
01. The Next Day In The City Jail We Were Searched For Drugs
02. Now A Certain Woman Named Martha Welcomed Him Into Her House
ACT I SCENE 2: MARY
03. And She Had A Sister Named Mary
04. I Am Surprised That I Am Beginning To Pray Daily
05. Chorus – En un dia de amor
ACT I SCENE 3: LAZARUS
06. Now A Certain Man Was Sick, Named Lazarus
07. Lazarus Dies
08. Why Standest Thou Afar Off, Lord?
09. In My Own Quietly Explosive Here
10. Don’t Touch My Left Arm!
11. When Mary Was Come Where Jesus Was
12. Jesus Said, Take Ye Away The Stone
13. Lazarus Rises From The Dead
14. Chorus – Drop Down, Ye Heavens
ACT I SCENE 4: SUPPER AT BETHANY
15. Supper At Bethany
16. For The Grave Cannot Praise Thee
17. Mary Washes The Feet Of Jesus
ACT I SCENE 5: PASSOVER
18. And There Were Some Who Had Indignation Within Themselves
19. We Know There Will Be No Utopias
20. Tell Me – How Is This Night Different From All Other Night?
ACT II
21. Chorus – Who Rips His Flesh Down The Seams
ACT II SCENE 1: POLICE RAID
22. Arrest Of Jesus
ACT II SCENE 2: ARREST OF THE WOMEN
23. Arrest Of The Women
24. Up At Two A.M., Picketed All Day
25. The Said Defendants, On Or About August 2nd
26. Prayer Of The Mexican Women
ACT II SCENE 3: GOLGOTHA
27. Golgotha
28. Daughters Of Jerusalem, Weep Not For Me
29. Now There Stood At The Cross Of Jesus
30. When Jesus Saw His Mother
ACT II SCENE 4: NIGHT
31. Night
32. His Son Cried Out To Him
ACT II SCENE 5: BURIAL / SPRING
33. The Sepulchre – Mary’s Awakening
34. Mary Awakes At Dawn
35. Chorus – It Is Spring
ACT II SCENE 6: EARTHQUAKE AND RECOGNITION
36. Earthquake And Recognition
37. Why Seek Ye The Living Among The Dead?
adams_the_gospel_according_to_the_other_mary2496_02.rar – 1.1 GB
A Time Traveling Passion
The symphonic John Adams has been a favorite, but I have been less enamored of his operatic pieces because of their relative evenness in tone and flow. This work is different. Musically, more specifically orchestrally, Adams here has introduced some interesting colors, such as a cimbalom. oboe, and clarinet; however, the voice is foremost and the orchestra must be hushed into the background for emphasis and supporting comments. He is sometimes light-footed, sometimes heavy and somber; sometimes foreboding, sometimes angry. Only with the second act (disc 2) does the orchestra becoming intense, passionate and complex. The mood of the opera is consistently dark. It is another installment on religious themes with a Latin American underlay. Faith as salvation in the midst of poverty, illness, and other woes is sung by the two mezzo-sopranos (Kelly O’Connor and Tamara Mumford), tenor Russel Thomas, and three countertenors (Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings, and Nathan Medley), who tell of siblings Martha, Mary Magdalene, and Lazerus and their encounter with Jesus, with diverse quotations that span the New Testament, Isaiah of the Torah, poems of Rosario Castellanos, June Jordan, Rubén Darío, and Louise Erdrich, and writings of Dorothy Day and Primo Levi. The 2,000-year old Passion of Jesus is confounded with relatively recent events, as César Chavez and Dolores Huerta confronting growers and the Teamsters Union for farm workers’ rights. Gustavo Dudamel, this time with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducts with careful precision and sensitivity. This well-engineered recording is remarkably clear and the libretto is easy to follow by ear.