A modern Opera adaptation by Charles Wuorinen based on Annie Proulx's short sorty previously adaptated by Ang Lee for the Oscar-winning film Brokeback Mountain.
Brokeback Mountain marks Wuorinen's return to the opera stage with one of the major works of his career, equally ambitious in its beauty and momentous tragedy. Brokeback is the story of ranch hand Ennis del Mar and rodeo cowboy Jack Twist, two young men who meet and fall in love on the fictional Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming in 1963. Wuorinen says "It's a story of doomed love, in this case a complex homosexual relationship taking place in a very homophobic society." In a decidedly different approach than the film adaptation, Wuorinen creates a grittier atmosphere. The story and characters have been tightly condensed by Proulx. In reference to the genesis of the story Proulx has written "'Brokeback' was constructed on the small but tight idea of a couple of home-grown country kids, opinions and self-knowledge shaped by the world around them, finding themselves in emotional waters of increasing depth. I wanted to develop the story through a kind of literary sostenente." In approaching the work for the stage Wuorinen writes "The music of Brokeback Mountain conveys the harsh magnificence of the Mountain where the protagonists first meet. Visiting Annie in Wyoming, seeing the land where the story is set and the characters shaped was invaluable, and it made a deep impression on me. Sometimes the score evokes the icy clarity of the high-altitude freedom the characters enjoy there. But the Mountain also breathes and storms, and the music projects this turbulence as well - especially when it transfers into the interior lives of the characters and their interactions in the human world. And the tragedy of the two principals, their doomed love, calls forth the most lyrical flights in the score." With bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch and tenor Tom Randle. Staged by Ivo van Hove and conducted by Titus Engel.
Garlands for Steven Stucky is a tribute to the late-American composer, Steven Stucky. The project was spearheaded by Grammy-winning pianist Gloria Cheng, who has recorded the 32 new pieces that make up this star-studded “garland”. In addition, Ms. Cheng is joined by soprano Peabody Southwell and oboist Carolyn Hove in a recording of Mr. Stucky’s Two Holy Sonnets of Donne (1982). Musician royalties for the sale of this recording go to the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Steven Stucky Composer Fellowship Fund.” Widely recognized as one of America’s leading composers, Steven Stucky was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his Second Concerto for Orchestra. He wrote commissioned works for many of America’s major orchestras and ensembles. For over 21 years he was resident composer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He taught at Cornell University, where he founded Ensemble X, until 2014, when he joined the faculty of The Juilliard School. He died of cancer in 2016.
A modern Opera adaptation by Charles Wuorinen based on Annie Proulx's short sorty previously adaptated by Ang Lee for the Oscar-winning film Brokeback Mountain.
Brokeback Mountain marks Wuorinen's return to the opera stage with one of the major works of his career, equally ambitious in its beauty and momentous tragedy. Brokeback is the story of ranch hand Ennis del Mar and rodeo cowboy Jack Twist, two young men who meet and fall in love on the fictional Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming in 1963. Wuorinen says "It's a story of doomed love, in this case a complex homosexual relationship taking place in a very homophobic society."
In a decidedly different approach than the film adaptation, Wuorinen creates a grittier atmosphere. The story and characters have been tightly condensed by Proulx. In reference to the genesis of the story Proulx has written "'Brokeback' was constructed on the small but tight idea of a couple of home-grown country kids, opinions and self-knowledge shaped by the world around them, finding themselves in emotional waters of increasing depth. I wanted to develop the story through a kind of literary sostenente."
In approaching the work for the stage Wuorinen writes "The music of Brokeback Mountain conveys the harsh magnificence of the Mountain where the protagonists first meet. Visiting Annie in Wyoming, seeing the land where the story is set and the characters shaped was invaluable, and it made a deep impression on me. Sometimes the score evokes the icy clarity of the high-altitude freedom the characters enjoy there. But the Mountain also breathes and storms, and the music projects this turbulence as well - especially when it transfers into the interior lives of the characters and their interactions in the human world. And the tragedy of the two principals, their doomed love, calls forth the most lyrical flights in the score."
With bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch and tenor Tom Randle. Staged by Ivo van Hove and conducted by Titus Engel.
![Wuorinen: Brokeback Mountain / Engel, Randle, Okulitch, Buck, Minutillo [blu-ray]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/2853072.jpg?v=1786832767&width=800)
![Wuorinen: Brokeback Mountain / Engel, Randle, Okulitch, Buck, Minutillo [blu-ray]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/2853072.jpg?v=1786832767&width=400)
