Review: Scenes from "Nixon in China" at the Phoenix Symphony, 14 November 2009

Last Saturday, 14 November 2009, the Phoenix Symphony, together with the Phoenix Symphony Chorus and guest soloists Maria Kanyova (soprano), Keith Phares (baritone), Tracy Dahl (soprano), Robert Orth (baritone) and Thomas Hammons (bass-baritone), performed scenes from the first two acts of John Adams and Alice Goodman's 1987 opera Nixon in China, based on Richard Nixon's 1972 diplomatic visit to socialist mainland China, and a closely associated piece, Adams's The Chairman Dances.

The near total the nearly total absence of Chinese musical motifs in Nixon in China is surprising to a contemporary listener. Alice Goodman's libretto, on the other hand, is written in rhymed, metrically disciplined couplets said to be inspired by Chinese theater; Adams's score is most inspired by minimalism, but far more approachable than that label usually implies. In contrast to Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach, the vocals are not treated as any other instrument; Nixon in China features development and is even melodic.

In an unusual move, Orth, singing the part of Richard Nixon, joined conductor Michael Christie at intermission to take questions from the audience. He offered praise for Christie and the orchestra, noting the frequent metrical changes in the score and the conductor's need to bring things back together when vocalists get out of time. Indeed the Phoenix Symphony was in top form, a far cry from last winter's ragged Pictures at an Exhibition and perhaps, given the difficulty of the work, a sign that the orchestra's days of inconsistency are behind them.

Orth's unconventional background, in musical theater, serves him well in the role of President Nixon. At intermission he claimed not to have set out to imitate Nixon but to have somehwat naturally begun affecting his mannerisms. Vocal earthiness and a slight nasal quality ("News has a kind of mystery!") rounded out the portrayal of a somewhat awkward president, attempting to charm outwardly while being paranoid in his inner monologues, and contrasted very well with the ringing baritone of Phares as Chinese premiere Zhou Enlai.

Hammons sung Henry Kissinger's role in the 1987 debut of Nixon in China and has done so on-and-off since. As he has had twenty-two years to develop the performance, it was disappointing that he was limited to a few lines here and there and a single prolonged solo in the Phoenix Symphony's selections. That a broader selection of the work was not performed detracted somewhat from the experience; while Kanyova as Pat Nixon--a very sympathetic and well-developed character in the libretto--had almost a quarter of the performance to herself, the equal complexities of political moderate Zhou Enlai received not a minute. Context of Kissinger's "Whip her to death!" rant and the surreal nature of Pat Nixon and Henry Kissinger's participation in the Red Detachment of Women ballet-within-an-opera was lacking. That Mao's scenes were completely missing added an interesting quality beyond its "Garfield witout words" effect; especially when compounded with the People's Libertarian Army's opening chant of Maoist doctrine the unseen but often referenced Mao was perhaps more potent than an onstage Mao, however much the Mao/Nixon interaction in Act I was missed.

With Mao in the shadows, goodwill, new beginnings, and the future received the most emphasis in the selection of scenes, the most potent reminder both of Mao and of the horror of Cultural Revolution-era socialist China, stole the show; in the lobby afterwards the diminutive coloratura soprano Tracy Dahl drew the biggest crowd of the leads. Singing the part of Jiang Qing (Madame Mao) her seemingly effortless vocal gymnastics perfectly matched Qing's lunatic revolutionary zeal.

Act 3, reflections by the principals on the visit, was not excerpted at all; instead the performance concluded with The Chairman Dances, a "Foxtrot for Orchestra" written as Adams was developing sketches for the opera. Within the minimalist style, dance is unusual, but strangely this piece worked very well, and gave the orchestra a moment for itself. A well-deserved moment, too: the Phoenix Symphony was in top form for its performance of "Scenes from 'Nixon in China'". As Adams is this season's featured contemporary composer, we can expect more such performances.

With Marc Heller singing the part of Chairman Mao, Orth, Kanyova, Hammons, Phares, and Dahl are featured on a recent recording of the entire opera by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, available on the Naxos label.