John Adams (b. 1947)
Girls of the Golden West (2017, revised version)
Cast beneath review
Los Angeles Master Chorale (Men’s Voices)
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra/John Adams
rec. live 27 & 29, January 2023, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California, USA
Libretto included
Nonesuch 7559 79004-8 [2 CDs: 127]
Girls of the Golden West is the eighth of John Adams’ nine operas and stage works to date; so far as I’m aware, only his most recent opera, Anthony and Cleopatra (2022) is yet to receive a recording. Girls of the Golden West was premiered in 2017. However, what is not mentioned in the booklet essay by Jake Wilder-Smith is that it had a troubled genesis. It was only when I did a bit of background research on the internet that I learned, from a review of this present recording in Gramophone, that the work was heavily criticised when it first appeared. Adams subsequently revised it and in this new, tauter version it was produced in Amsterdam in 2019. What we hear on these discs, however, is a third, further reduced version of the opera and with some material rewritten by the composer. Adams’ librettist was the celebrated director Peter Sellars, a long-time collaborator, and I gather that a lot of the criticism of the original version had to do with the libretto.
Peter Sellars went back to a wide variety of original sources to construct his libretto and, as Jake Wilder-Smith indicates in his valuable essay about the opera, the characters are real people; through their words and actions we experience a gritty drama of the California Gold Rush. As Wilder-Smith explains, the opera “draw[s] together the narratives of three real women who came to Northern California during the Gold Rush, Josefa Segovia, Ah Sing and Dame Shirley”. Segovia is a young Mexican girl who works in a bar, Ah Sing is a Chinese prostitute, while Dame Shirley is the pen name of Louise Clapp. Clapp was a Massachusetts woman who journeyed with her husband to California and spent 18 months in the mining camps and chronicled her experiences in letters home to her sister. At the climax of Act II, Josefa kills Joe Cannon in self-defence and is subsequently hanged, a series of events that happened in real life.
The other characters we meet in the opera are Joe Cannon, a miner and a thoroughly nasty piece of work, and Clarence, another miner. There’s also Ned Peters, a fugitive slave, and Ramón, a card dealer and bartender at the Empire Hotel, who is also Josefa’s lover. The collective of white American miners is represented by the male chorus. Through the interactions of all these characters, male and female, the opera addresses a number of unacceptable social practices, which are as relevant today as they were in the California of the Gold Rush; these include misogyny, sexual exploitation, violence – both violence against women and mob violence – slavery, and racism. The opera is set in the mining town of Rich Bar in 1850 (Act I) and 1851 (Act II); the action in Act II takes place on the Fourth of July. The opera is divided into two acts, within which Act I has four scenes, while there are five scenes and an Epilogue in Act II.
As Adams’ opera may be unfamiliar, I think I should outline the plot, which develops as follows. In Act I, scene 1, Clarence and Dame Shirley establish some of the context for us; Shirley’s contribution is a description of her journey to Rich Bar, in the course of which she meets Ned. Scene 2 portrays the miners carousing riotously in the bar of the Empire Hotel while the following scene depicts drunken behaviour by Joe, who seems to believe that Josefa is fair game; there’s then a tender exchange between Josefa and Ramón in which they reminisce about the early days of their relationship. The Act’s final scene is a dialogue between Ned and Shirley in which, amongst other things, both express their disgust at the violence and disorder in Rich Bar. In the second Act, the focus initially is on Ah Sing, who ponders on her background and how she came to end up in Rich Bar; for all his faults, she has feelings for Joe. The Fourth of July celebrations get out of hand and the (white) American miners inflict violence on Latino colleagues. Ned denounces American injustice in a powerful impromptu speech and, for his pains, is run out of town by the miners. Fairly swiftly thereafter, Girls of the Golden West moves towards its dénouement. Joe tries to force himself on Josefa, who, in warding him off, fatally stabs him. The miners subject her to a kangaroo court and she is sentenced to death by hanging. Keeping her dignity, Josefa puts the noose around her own neck and jumps from the makeshift gallows. All that is left is for Shirley to deliver a melancholy Epilogue.
I have to say that I find listening to Girls of the Golden West something of a slow burn experience. I can appreciate the need for some scene setting, which happens in the first scene, but to be frank, for the first two scenes and much of the third, I felt that I wasn’t drawn into the plot; furthermore, I didn’t really care one way or the other about the characters. I don’t think matters are helped by the music itself. Underpinning the lyrical vocal lines is a pretty continuously hyperactive orchestral score, which is generally jagged in nature and relies on strong rhythmic propulsion. I find it all a bit unrelenting. Now is perhaps a good time to mention that on several occasions throughout the opera Adams weaves in a number of Gold Rush popular songs, often, but not exclusively, sung by the chorus. Jake Wilder-Smith explains in his notes why the composer did this and I get it: the use of these songs evokes the atmosphere and sentiments of the time. However, rather than use any traditional melodies, Adams sets the lyrics to his own music. I’m afraid I can’t agree with Wilder-Smith that this device works. The music simply doesn’t fit the words at all, and certainly not in a ‘popular’ vein; I wonder if Adams would have been better advised to use the traditional melodies at least as the basis and then graft onto them his own music as orchestral accompaniment.
My interest perked up significantly towards the end of scene 3 when Josefa and Ramón are alone together. Both the music and the action are much more emotionally involving. The characters interact tenderly and Adams’ gentle, expressive music is excellent; the orchestration is subtle and inventive. The closing scene of Act I, between Shirley and Ned, is also largely successful; the opening of the scene returns us to the gritty, punchy style of music heard earlier in the opera; later in the scene, though, Adams writes in a less frenetic style and I like this much better. Ned’s substantial aria (‘Wherever I traveled, I always kept a silent tongue’) is a searching piece of writing; the music is powerfully intense and Davóne Tines gives a fine, convincing account of it.
Act II opens with the tumult of the Fourth of July party in Rich Bar; the music is suitably vigorous. In scene 2 the spotlight falls on Ah Sing, as we learn her backstory. Hye Jung Lee is clearly invested in her character and her singing is very committed. For my taste, her voice is somewhat shrill in tone – I longed for some warmth – but maybe the root cause of that is the writing which frequently requires her to sing in the stratosphere. A little later comes Ned’s set-piece aria (‘Great streams are not easily turned from channels’) in which he reproaches the American miners for their behaviour and attitudes. A key part of the text – remember, this is being sung by a fugitive slave – are the lines ‘What is this celebration to me? / The Fourth of July is yours, not mine’. This aria is a magnificent, moving piece of writing, superbly delivered by Davóne Tines. Jake Wilder-Smith likens the aria to Adams’ equally eloquent setting of John Donne’s poem ‘Batter my heart’ in the opera Doctor Atomic (2005); I wouldn’t disagree.
Ater a touching little exchange between Josefa and Ramón, Adams sets to appropriately graphic music the attempt by Joe to force himself on Josefa and her desperate self-defence, which leads to Joe’s death. As the mob seeks “justice”, the characters of Clarence and Shirley act as narrators. Faced with the mob, Josefa is very defiant, displaying steely resolve. Her music in this episode is sung with terrific intensity by Daniela Mack. In the face of the inevitable outcome – tantamount to a lynching – Josefa retains her dignity.
The concluding Epilogue is touching and reflective. Here, Adams’ music is very expressive; the vocal writing is moving while the orchestration is hushed and atmospherically coloured. These last few minutes of the opera afford calm after the tumultuous events – and music – that we’ve just experienced. This final section, along with Ned’s Act II aria and the exchanges between Josefa and Ramón in Act I, scene 3 contain, for me, the best music in this work. Julia Bullock sings the Epilogue most movingly. The opera ends very softly and there’s no applause to intrude.
I have reservations about Girls of the Golden West, but I have none about the performance itself. It crackles with electricity and all the principals are convincing in their roles. Joe Cannon is not a character who will engage anyone’s sympathy but, my goodness, Paul Appleby portrays this villain vividly. On the other hand, the character of Josefa can’t fail to appeal to the audience, especially when Daniela Mack depicts her so convincingly. I indicated earlier that the voice of Hye Jung Lee isn’t really to my taste, but no one could fault the conviction with which she assumes the character of Ah Sing. The character of Clarence seems to me to be rather one-dimensional, but Ryan McKinny sings the part very well. I like the singing of Elliot Madore as Ramón. I’ve already referenced more than once the contributions of Davóne Tines as Ned Peters and Julia Bullock as Dame Shirley; both give outstanding performances. The male voices of the Los Angeles Master Chorale offer robust, punchy singing; they are a thoroughly convincing mob of miners. The playing of the Los Angeles Philharmonic is superbly incisive throughout. John Adams has developed a deserved reputation as a conductor over the years – and not just of his own music. With the composer on the rostrum, this performance must be considered definitive.
The recording is top-notch. The engineering is by Alexander and Dmitriy Lipay, whose work I’ve encountered before. They’ve produced a recording that is punchy – as the music demands – and full of detail. Incidentally, though the recording was made live, I could detect no audience sounds.
The documentation includes an introductory essay and a synopsis by Jake Wilder-Smith; both are excellent. I applaud Nonesuch for the clear presentation of the libretto and the rest of the documentation.
I can’t help feeling that Girls of the Golden West is an uneven work; others may well disagree, but for me, it takes too long to achieve lift off. However, it still contains a good deal of fine, dramatically involving music and I’m glad that it has been committed to disc, especially in such a convincing performance. Admirers of John Adams’ music, amongst which I’d certainly include myself, will welcome the chance to hear it under the composer’s incisive direction.
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Cast:
Josefa Segovia – Daniela Mack (mezzo-soprano)
Ned Peters – Davóne Tines (baritone)
Ramón – Elliot Madore (baritone)
Ah Sing – Hye Jung Lee (soprano)
Dame Shirley – Julia Bullock (soprano)
Joe Cannon – Paul Appleby (tenor)
Clarence – Ryan McKinny (baritone)
