The role of Kitty Oppenheimer was originally intended for the great mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who was already too ill to take on the role. The maid Pasqualita is a more abstract figure whose lullaby is in implicit contrast to the scientist's betrayal of nature. SCHWARTZ: The two major women characters are Oppenheimer's wife Kitty and her Native American maid. As yet but knock, breathe, knock, breathe, knock, breathe, shine and seek to mend. I'm especially moved by the way Adams repeats single syllable words like heart and breathe and mend and gives them a poignant downward turn.įINLEY: (As Robert Oppenheimer, singing) Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you. On this recording, it's sung by baritone Gerald Finley who created the role of the tormented Oppenheimer. It's Adams's haunting setting of John Donne's paradoxical "Holy Sonnet: Batter My Heart, Three-Person'd God" which ends the first act. My favorite passage in "Doctor Atomic" is an actual aria, a rare phenomenon in contemporary opera. SCHWARTZ: Some of Sellars' libretto, though, inspires vivid lyricism from Adams. GLENN: (As Robert Wilson, singing) Well, pretty excited - like going out to save civilization. GERALD FINLEY: (As Robert Oppenheimer, singing) Well, how do you feel? It's hard to stop and think as one ought to. Nobody has a spare moment, and we work like dogs. THOMAS GLENN: (As Robert Wilson, singing) Everybody is rushing around. But the flat, conversational language of much of the dialogue is better served by the orchestral accompaniment than the actual vocal lines, as in this passage between physicist Robert Wilson and Oppenheimer. Sellars has constructed a dramatic and suspenseful scenario. When Goodman dropped out, Sellars compiled a libretto using interviews, memoirs, declassified scientific reports and poems ranging from the "Bhagavad Gita" to John Donne, Charles Baudelaire and the mid-century American poet Muriel Rukeyser. "Doctor Atomic" contends with Robert Oppenheimer and the first atomic bomb tests at Los Alamos. Both of these had eloquent and pointed librettos by the poet Alice Goodman. The second and most controversial is "The Death Of Klinghoffer," which deals with the circumstances surrounding the notorious Palestinian terrorist attack on the Italian cruise ship the Achille Lauro, which resulted in the death of a wheelchair-bound Jewish-American tourist. The first and maybe still the most satisfying is "Nixon In China," which is about a valuable accomplishment by a dishonored president - the opening of communist China to the West. LLOYD SCHWARTZ, BYLINE: "Doctor Atomic" is the third collaboration between composer John Adams and director Peter Sellars dealing with key turning points in modern history. (SOUNDBITE OF JOHN ADAMS' "DOCTOR ATOMIC: OVERTURE") Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says this may well be the definitive performance. A new recording conducted by the composer himself has just been released. It had its world premiere in San Francisco in 2005. "Doctor Atomic" is an opera by John Adams and Peter Sellars about the first atom bomb test.
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