Smyth's The Wreckers--staged!

[edurban]

I'm with you there....The Wreckers was splendid and works very well on stage.  It was certainly better cast than Botstein's 2007 concert version (we had a real heldentenor this time)  After the first act, I thought that Brewster's text wasn't as bad I remembered...but then we got to the tenor's big scene in Act 2 and I literally couldn't figure out what he was singing about.  You could feel Dame Ethel's usually indefatigable commitment ebbing about the same time, but she recovered for an act finale of truly Wagnerian splendor.  The staging nearly scuttled the end of Act 3 (how many people were drowning?  2? 4? more than that?) and Botstein rushed through Smythe's glorious final bars (to hear how hair-raising and utterly original these can sound, check out the Conifer complete recording)

A great afternoon, I hope finances permit these stagings of rare works to continue.  I notice that next year's ASO series does not include a rare opera presented in concert for the first time in many years.  I'm told there just isn't any money.

David

[Finn_McCool]

I was chuffed to see that Bard College's Fisher Center website is streaming a performance of "The Wreckers" from 2015 as part of their "Upstreaming" series.  A fantastic performance to watch again for those of us who got to see it in person, but now hopefully more folks can check it out.

[dmitterd]

Here's the address for those who'd like to watch - https://fishercenter.bard.edu/events/ups-the-wreckers/

cheers,
Daniel

[semloh]

Thanks for the link, Daniel. It looks like a splendid production.