Inspired by the writings of Dorothy Parker, the chamber opera by Ricky Ian Gordon has an overly cliched plot
Bodhi Tree Concerts presented the San Diego premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s “Autumn Valentine” Saturday evening at the UCSD Park & Market.
Gordon has an extensive resumé, and his work — whose focus is largely on the voice and the stage — has earned numerous prestigious awards.“Autumn Valentine” is a chamber opera for soprano, baritone, and small ensemble, and takes its libretto from poems and texts by writer and satirist Dorothy Parker, whose wry, sometimes caustic wit helped to articulate the 20th century’s popular zeitgeist.
Gordon’s music shows a deep understanding of musical theater traditions, from Kurt Weill to the golden era of the American stage. Many of his songs, especially the fine “Lullaby,” are harmonically bold and original. His ability to craft contrapuntal textures that mirror plot complexities is obvious and effective.
Indeed, the most compelling numbers were those for which Gordon wrote original lyrics, like “Ours” and “Far Away,” which had more interesting phrases and metrical details. Further, the plot, which emerges only through the audience’s intuitive efforts, is a too-familiar mid-century trope in which two generic and ignoble characters bumble first into a passionless marriage, then rush into mutual disappointment, infidelity and an undefined and unredeeming regret.
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