 |
| |
|
An Interview with Ian Robertson, chorus director
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
I select and train the singers for each production. The size of
the chorus in Doctor Atomic has to do with the fact that
our regular chorus has forty-five people, and John Adams accepted
that number for whom he would write the music. What I do is teach
the music very carefully from the beginning as I get each section
of music. We learn the music in great detail and try to follow the
indications that John Adams has put in the score and work on dynamics,
phrasing, structure and texture. We put the music together as close
as we possibly can at this stage without direct involvement from
John Adams as to what he had in mind for the chorus sound. There
is a sound concept that comes with this opera. I have to try to
imagine what the end product should sound like, and I have to train
the chorus to get somewhere near to what his ideal is.
|
|
|
 |
The choral music in Doctor Atomic
is quite varied. It harks back to some of John Adams's
previous writing. He writes kind of big, rap-like, heavy
metal structured choruses, which hammer their way through
the work. He also includes some very lyrical sections,
which in some cases convey scientific expressions. There
are also more rhapsodic moments, which are more to do
with creating silent pictures than pronouncing text
or being very clear rhythmically. The chorus is being
used as another orchestral instrument to create particular
atmospheres. The opening of the opera has to do with
the chorus pronouncing scientific explanations of what
an atom is and what matter is, and it’s very mechanical
in structure and pronunciation. It's like a Greek chorus
in the old Greek theatrical sense, in which it would
stand in the background and make comments on the situation.
|
|
|
|
|
There's always a deep intellectual concept behind Adams's music,
and even though I don't always see it, I know it's there. I can
feel its presence in the way the chords are structured and the way
he rotates around several unrelated chords. I like the rhythmic
structure and the use of the sentence structure in English. That
appeals to me because, coming from the British Isles, one goes all
the way back to Purcell who had this way of using the English language
in a very individual manner that of course influenced Vaughn Williams
and Benjamin Britten. This is the American version, I suppose you
could say, of the English setting, and that appeals to me a lot.
I like the basic gut feeling of it and the driving force behind
it. There are passages, which are very counterintuitive on the surface,
but when you work on them, they become very intuitive, so I think
there is always a deeper layer.
|
|
|
|
I think, as with John Adams before, the relationship between the
words and the music isn't all that obvious. There are places where
it is obvious, such as the declamation of the chorus in which there
are words stressed in usual and unusual places. But there are some
places that are the exact opposite. And that’s what I need
to work out – what did he really mean by this word placement?
And that is part of Adams's mystique. There’s another layer
there. And when you work through it, it begins to make more sense
because you get to know the music. It either becomes second nature
or it assumes a new meaning after you have analyzed it and worked
on it in detail.
|
|
|
I think the choral music is very scientific
and is sung mechanically. As far as reflecting the mood,
the chorus acts as a bunch of lower level scientists
who comment upon the destructive weapon being made.
If you think about the harmony and the multi-tonality
that's going on in the choral writing, then you get
a feel of the tension that would have been around at
that time. There are moments of great beauty –
maybe if you're out in the desert for the sunset or
sunrise. And then there are moments of harshness, which
is the realization or depiction of the fact that this
was a horrible development for the human race.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
