Skip to content
Front pageBooksFilmMusicGamesSheet musicArticles
Digital productsAsk a librarianNew user?

Search

Bookmarks

Menu

Music / operafilm

The perfect American

Philip Glass

Reviews (5)

BBC music magazine

2013 Christmas

By

By

Nick Shave

2013 Christmas

"Purves fully engages with the lead role, injecting energy into a score that (perhaps unusually for a style based on such propulsive repetition) often lacks momentum ... The staging is visually strong ... and the filming is well choreographed, but overall this opera is hard to get animated about".

Diapason

2014 fevrier

By

By

Benoît Fauchet

2014 fevrier

Klassisk

2014, nr. 32

By

By

Steen Chr. Steensen

2014, nr. 32

"Selve problemet med denne opera [er, at] den finder aldrig rigtig ud af, om den skal glorificere eller kritisere ikonet [Walt Disney] ... Der er masser af godt stof ... men det bliver ikke til andet end antydninger. det samme gælder desværre musikken ... Det er, som om scenografien i dette tilfælde har mere at byde på end selve operaen".

International record review

2013 December

By

By

Raymond S. Tuttle

2013 December

"Philip Glass's 25th opera ... I confess I initially was sceptical about The Perfect American. Another opera based on an icon - Walt Disney, yet? One in which both Andy Warhol and Abraham Lincoln appear ... Instead I was glued to the sofa, and although I needed to blow my nose toward the end of act 1, I simply ignored it ... Glass knows how to create moods ... The cast? Well, it's members are not the stars of the show, but they do excellent work ... On video, the production looks terrific ... A great opera? Perhaps not, but as a piece of stagecraft, The Perfect American is outstanding".

The gramophone

2014 January

By

By

Pwyll ap Siôn

2014 January

"The dark tone is set from the beginning ... Christopher Purves impressively conveys the complex and ultimately flawed character of Walt [Disney] ... The recording ... is not without its imperfections too, and one senses that without Dennis Russell Davies at the helm things could have got a whole lot messier. Opus Arte's production is excellent, however, and brings The Perfect American - such as it is - very vividly to life".

Information and editions