Justin Dello Joio's chamber opera Blue Mountain is a fictionalized account of a meeting between Edvard Grieg and Percy Grainger just at the end of Grieg's life. The libretto, by Andrew Boyle, adapted from his own play, is so brief and compressed that it barely leaves space for the characters to come across as believable, but the score is successful in creating empathy with them and bringing them to life. Dello Joio's musical language is not tonal, but has elements of tonality, and is craggily lyrical. The piece was written ...
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Justin Dello Joio's chamber opera Blue Mountain is a fictionalized account of a meeting between Edvard Grieg and Percy Grainger just at the end of Grieg's life. The libretto, by Andrew Boyle, adapted from his own play, is so brief and compressed that it barely leaves space for the characters to come across as believable, but the score is successful in creating empathy with them and bringing them to life. Dello Joio's musical language is not tonal, but has elements of tonality, and is craggily lyrical. The piece was written for Det Norske Blaseensemble in 2007, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Grieg's death. It's accompanied by wind ensemble, making it one of a very small group of operas that includes Kurka's Good Soldier Schweik and Daron Hagen's Bandanna. Dello Joio does add a harp, solo violin, and string bass, which soften the textures, and go a long way toward creating the illusion of a more conventional orchestration. The colorful, atmospheric, delicate orchestration, which includes the...
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