Alma Deutscher Cinderella (opera)

[Alan Howe]

...can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9JzlFIaW2A

And here's the new DVD of the US premiere:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alma-Deutscher-Cinderella/dp/B07GRLPLP5/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1542906846&sr=8-4&keywords=alma+deutscher+cinderella

Try the final 15 minutes or so: they're quite something!

[Gareth Vaughan]

I'm sorry. The final 15 minutes did nothing for me - it's just pastiche. And SO saccharine. It was also preceded by a monumentally pedestrian organ solo which I feared would never end. I think I shall keep out of discussions of Alma Deutscher's work in future - I am clearly a grump when it comes to this young lady's music, and will only make myself unpopular.

[Alan Howe]

Oh dear: my sweet tooth, I'm afraid!

[Mark Thomas]

Well, each to his own. Whilst I'll sincerely applaud her prodigious precosity, I'm pretty much immune to the charms of Miss Deutscher's music itself, I'm afraid.  It's far too derivative and the anachronistic mixture of styles jars, but that's hardly surprising as she's still only a child after all. I do hope that she's able to develop for a few years out of the limelight, but perhaps that's too much to hope for.

[Alan Howe]

As you saw, I'm not immune - while acknowledging the caveats and objections, of course.

[semloh]

Me too, Alan.

[matesic]

I think I must be a very bad person (but I don't have a heart of stone..)

[Gareth Vaughan]

In this context Oscar Wilde's remark to Ada Leverson about Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop comes to mind: "One must have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without laughing."

[Mark Thomas]

Oh, bravo!! 

[Alan Howe]

Well, I didn't laugh at Alma's opera. I was moved, actually.

It reminds me of the oft-quoted difference between La Traviata and La Boheme: in the former Violetta's death moves us because she's Everywoman, whereas in the latter Mimi's passing is merely that of A Woman. In other words, Verdi's art is universal, whereas Puccini's is merely local; Verdi's is high art, whereas Puccini's is in shabby shocker territory.

I understand what the quote is getting at - but, oh the power of Puccini. And the innocence of young Alma. Both move me. Which is not to make any great claim for Alma's music. Yet...

Sorry - I'm rambling. Must be early afternoon drowsiness after a good lunch.

[semloh]

Dare I say that perhaps age has something to do with one's reactions to Alma? If you are approaching your Biblical quota of three score and ten, or are on 'borrowed time', you may be like me in appreciating and marvelling at young people in a way that one didn't in the past. Nowadays, I find almost any trace of the higher virtues in young people very moving, and I'm perhaps more positive in my reactions than is strictly deserved....

[Mark Thomas]

No, that can't be it, Colin. I'm certainly approaching (but not yet reached) my Biblical quota, but Alan's a bit behind me...

[matesic]

No, I'd be more inclined to suspect the converse although present company clearly disproves the hypothesis that a wide experience of "real" classical and romantic music might cause one to deride Alma's ersatz creations. I think I know why my response is entirely negative. An important factor for me is how a composer fits into and reflects their own age, its culture and its wisdom. For me any attempt of a composer to reproduce a musical style of the past sounds fake, and I think I could detect it with some consistency! Neither do I marvel at the prodigious musical feats of young children, mainly because I don't feel their efforts are infused with the wisdom of experience, although jealousy may have something to do with it too...

[matesic]

I've just noticed that we all seem to end our posts this way...

[Mark Thomas]

How interesting...