André Previn's first opera, A Streetcar Named Desire, which had its premiere in 1998 at the San Francisco Opera, made a splash, at least in part because of its stars, Renée Fleming and Nathan Gunn, and the fame of the play. For a contemporary opera it has done remarkably well, with a dozen international productions during its first decade. Its success led to this commission by the Houston Grand Opera for a work based on David Lean's 1945 film, Brief Encounter, which in turn was based on Noël Coward's play, Still Life . The ...
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André Previn's first opera, A Streetcar Named Desire, which had its premiere in 1998 at the San Francisco Opera, made a splash, at least in part because of its stars, Renée Fleming and Nathan Gunn, and the fame of the play. For a contemporary opera it has done remarkably well, with a dozen international productions during its first decade. Its success led to this commission by the Houston Grand Opera for a work based on David Lean's 1945 film, Brief Encounter, which in turn was based on Noël Coward's play, Still Life . The libretto by John Caird is dramatically smart, if a little too talky. The music reflects Previn's experience in film scoring; it is pleasantly pictorial, relentlessly lyrical, and tends to stay in the background. Although it has some moments of emotional intensity the score never quite takes flight, and the text setting is undistinguished. The music proceeds for the most part at a moderate pace and dynamic level, using approximately the same tonal language throughout. This lack...
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