Before Night Falls - Jorge Martin's opera is now a recording....

Albany Records has released a recording of Jorge Martin's opera, "Before Night Falls."  The opera received its world premiere in Fort Worth on May 29, and I received my copy of the recording in the mail on September 27, just under 4 months later.  Is that some kind of speed record?  Amazing?

Actually, it appears that the musicians involved in the world premiere made this recording between the first and second performances of the opera (which were spaced about a week apart), so it was made within that burst of excitement after the first performance while everything was still quite fresh in the minds and hearts of the participants.  I wrote enthusiastically about the opera after attending the premiere, and my enthusiasm is reinforced by a first hearing of the recording, which I think captures much of that excitement despite the absence of a live audience.  (Not all, of course - no studio recording can achieve quite the excitement of a live performance - especially a world premiere - but this recording comes close.)

There are, of course, big differences between attending a performance and listening to a sound recording, apart from the excitement of live performance.  In opera, the acting, dancing, costumes and sets make a big contribution to the overall effect.  With a recording we just have the music.  I have memories of the other elements, but a potential listener who was not present for the performance will have merely the visual prompts of production photos (black & white) contained in the booklet that comes with the recording.  Happily there are many production photos interspersed at appropriate points with the libretto in that booklet.  Albany has not gone the cheap route of some labels that omit a libretto or make you go on-line to download one.  And the combination of photos with libretto makes up for some of that difference between a sound-only recording and -- would one dare dream -- a DVD! 

Hearing without any visual element certainly points up the extraordinary accomplishment of young Wes Mason, who embodied Reinaldo Arenas, the central character whose autobiography was the basis for the libretto.  This is a star-making performance.  Unfortunately, the sound-only format points up some of the weaknesses in the supporting cast, whose physical appropriateness for their roles and good acting and dancing helped to carry the performance but whose voices were not quite in the same league.  At the same time, the recording also emphasizes the marvelous job done by conductor Joseph Illick and the Fort Worth Opera's orchestra, with especially fine playing from various wind soloists and the percussionists, who have much to do in the dance segments. 

One distinct advantage of the sound recording over the visual production concerns an important dramatic device that Martin (who co-wrote the libretto) introduced into the story - the two "muses" who sing to Arenas from time to time.  In the production, the two women singing these roles were somewhat oddly dressed and a bit distracting - an intrusion into the otherwise relatively realistic presentation.  On a sound recording, the listener can think of them as voices inside Reinaldo's head.  Perhaps a future dramaturg staging this opera will conclude that the muses should not be visible.  That might be more effective in conveying their dramatic function.  On the other hand, it might just confuse the audience.  A judgment call there....

I listened on headphones without following the libretto, but I found myself absorbed in the drama and able to follow the action due to the superb diction of most of the singers, the good balance of voices with orchestra, and Martin's skillfull orchestration that manages to sound very full but is generally kind to the singers.  Indeed, I found that certain anomalies of instrumental balance that I experienced in the opera house, perhaps due to my seating location, were not a problem with the recording, which seems very well balanced.  I did find the sound of the chorus a bit more diffused than would be ideal, especially in the big "Victoria" scene in Act I, where I actually favor the private recording of that section from the cantata Martin fashioned for a choral music commission performed by the Monmouth Civic Chorus and caught "on the fly" in concert.  But overall I found this recording to be a very effective representation of the opera.

One of the problems with such a swift release of the recording after the first performance is that it "freezes" the opera in this format.  Throughout the history of opera, composers have tinkered with their works after the first performances and adapted them to changed circumstances as opportunities for new productions arose, as a result of which an opera could be refined through experience into a final form for posterity.  I imagine that Martin might be inclined to tinker before a second production, taking account of what he might feel worked better or less well in the first production, or making changes to accommodate the abilities of a new cast of singers, or to deal with the need for more or less transitional music for set changes or lengthening or shortening the dance sequences.  Who knows?  Sometimes operas are greatly improved in the process, and then one would want a new recording - but how often do contemporary operas enjoy second recordings? 

Just musing aloud there...  At this point, I'm one very happy listener to have this recording both as a souvenir of a wonderful premiere and as a source of much future entertainment and emotional satisfaction.  And, quickly, some record company must sign up Wes Mason...  I want a recital disc right away!!  And I hope that this recording serves to introduce the opera to many opera company artistic and music directors looking for new works to produce, since I think this deserves to be widely seen and heard.