# Philip Glass-"The Perfect American"



## Notung (Jun 12, 2013)

Has anyone seen it?

Does anyone know when it's coming out?


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## Notung (Jun 12, 2013)

On cd or DVD, I mean.


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

Notung said:


> Has anyone seen it?


Yes, on Medici.TV a couple of months ago broadcast live from the Teatro Real.



Notung said:


> Does anyone know when it's coming out?


Have no idea. Checked on Medici.TV, but it is gone from there now. Probably means that the recording Medici.TV was airing is the one that will be turned into a DVD/CD.


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## Notung (Jun 12, 2013)

How was it? Is it worth buying?


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

Notung said:


> How was it? Is it worth buying?


Definitely would be worth buying when it does come out.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Philip Glass is already in his seventies. Other composers at a similar age had produced great masterpieces, like Verdi or Janacek.

Mr. Glass is a respected musician, and the more performed composer of opera in our days, but after his three first pieces: _Einstein on the Beach, the splendid Satyagraha and Akhnaten, _his career has been of little interest to me.

This season, Madrid's Teatro Real presented the last opera by Mr. Glass, _The Perfect American_, based on the last years in the life of an American icon, Walt Disney.

I was never interested in Disney's products during my own childhood, but I'm really grateful for its invaluable cooperation in the feeding of my daughter, a difficult task, that I was able to perform with good results only when she was busy looking at "Cinderella", "Little Siren" or "Lady" on my TV screen. So I'm fond of Mr. Disney, the character, in a way. And in the libretto, there is a portrait of the person, and also the character, with his lights and his shadows, but a rather balanced view.

Musically, however, this was not the best of evenings. The usual arrangement by Mr. Glass, with an attractive, at times, orchestral texture (barring an interfering percussion, a bit divorced of the action), but nothing we haven't heard several times already. The beginning of the opera, with an evocation of Marceline, the place where Disney lived as a child, was appropriately melancholic, and promising. However, since the appearance of a robot in the guise of President Lincoln at the end of the first act, things took a rather gloomy turn. The second act, with Disney in a hospital room along with a sick child, was rather weak.

As usual, vocal lines were monotonous, on the verge of boring. Staging was ok, but it was a pity not to be able to use Mickey or Donald, due to copyright issues. Good team work from the orchestra, the singers and the chorus.

All in all, not a very exciting evening.


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

new review of the ENO performances


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## aisia (Jul 28, 2013)

I decided 'meh' from me. The staging, though, I thought was great.


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