I am seated in the upper circle - the lap of the Gods. Around me are quite a number of young people - are they stand-by students, there do seem to be a lot of them. The performance hasn't sold out but it is pretty full. I bought a recording of this opera in the early 1980s and have a god idea about what would be in store. Yet I was surprised at how the performance setting made me realise just what some of the sections meant. For instance, I had not realised that the crowd in scene I of Act II were laughing, even thought they are singing "ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha" repeatedly. I had always assumed that this was just some sort of vocalisation like that found in Einstein on the Beach. But now I am clear on this!
Act 1, Scene I and Act III, Scene III are the highlights in my view, but various other scenes also stood out. I thought the mezzo-soprano was really good as was the woman who sang the role of Gandhi's protector. At around 3 hours, this is still not an easy listen, and the first two scenes of Act III are not the best that Glass has ever written. But this might be because they come before the truly extraordinary Scene III - a bit like the argument that Act III of Parsifal is made all the better by having had to sit through the first extremely dull first two acts.
So for Scene III, Martin Luther King is on a podium at the rear of the stage with his back to the audience and is addressing a crowd. Gandhi is mid-stage and performs alone the most amazing piece of Philip Glass music that I think there is. It is a piece that I know extremely well, but was not affected negatively by this - quite the opposite, I was totally captivated by it. Truly amazing.
Afterwards I walk back to Marble Arch, taking in the evening scenes. A good end to what had been a very poor day up to the evening
From the ENO production
From the Stuttgart production - my favourite scene in Act 1
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