'Plump Jack' – Gordon Getty's Opera Inspired by Shakespeare's Immortal Rogue “Sweet Jack Falstaff”

“Falstaff is all the world,” declares Gordon Getty about the title character of his opera, "Plump Jack," which has been released in concert version on the PentaTone Classics label (PTC 5186 445, hybrid multi-channel SACD).

“We must meet him at the top of his game: outwitting his arresters, winning the crowd, pulling the Chief Justice’s beard and borrowing another ten pounds for good measure. His next scene at Gad’s Hill is the endearing opposite. Here Falstaff is flustered, flummoxed and apoplectic as Hal and Boy play their tricks on him…It is at Gad’s Hill that we love Falstaff most.

“Love him we must,” Mr. Getty continues, “since all who know him do. He is mourned in the end as much as Hamlet or Brutus or Lear. ‘Falstaff, he is dead,’ says Pistol, ‘and we must yearn therefore.’ ‘He’s in Arthur’s bosom,’ says Hostess, even though she never saw a farthing back from him. Bardolph adds the most beautiful tribute of all: ‘Would I were with him, wheresome’er he is, either in heaven or in hell.’”

"Plump Jack" features conductor Ulf Schirmer, 10 vocal soloists, the Munich Radio Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Choir in a work that the composer has been developing over three decades, focusing upon the character of Falstaff from Shakespeare’s history plays, "Henry IV Parts 1 and 2" and "Henry V."

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Contents of the CD

PentaTone Classics (PTC 5186 445)

GORDON GETTY (1933)

"PLUMP JACK"

Libretto by the composer after Shakespeare (Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, Henry V)

Munich Radio Orchestra

Bavarian Radio Chorus

Ulf Schirmer, conductor

Melody Moore, soprano – Boy / Clarence

Susanne Mentzer, mezzo-soprano – Hostess (Nell Quickly)

Nikolai Schukoff, tenor – Hal (Henry V)

Lester Lynch, baritone – Falstaff

Christopher Robertson, baritone – Henry IV / Pistol

Robert Breault, tenor – Shallow / First Captain

Nathaniel Webster, baritone – Bardolph / Chief Justice

Diana Kehrig, mezzo-soprano – First Traveler

Bruce Rameker, baritone – Second Traveler / Second Captain / Warwick

Chester Patton, bass-baritone – Davy

Opera in Two Acts | Concert Version

(Scene 1 and Scene 8 of the opera are not included in the concert version)

Act One

1. Overture

2. Scene 2: “Hal’s Memory”

3. Scene 3: “Gad’s Hill”

4. Scene 4: “Clarence”

5. Scene 5: “Boar’s Head Inn”

Act Two

6. Scene 6: “Shallow’s Orchard”

7. Scene 7: “Jerusalem”

8. Scene 9: “Pistol’s News”

9. Scene 10: “Banishment”

10. Scene 11: “Muse of Fire”

11. Scene 12: “Off to War”

Total playing time = 75:34

A video about "PLUMP JACK" can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwYDaV51Ou0&feature=youtu.be

"PLUMP JACK" is available online at www.pentatonemusic.com, www.amazon.com and www.arkivmusic.com; and on iTunes

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Gordon Getty (Composer / Librettist)

The music of the American composer Gordon Getty has been widely performed in North America and Europe in such prestigious venues as New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London’s Royal Festival Hall, Vienna’s Brahmssaal, and Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall and Bolshoi Theatre, as well as at the Aspen, Spoleto, and Bad Kissingen Festivals. In 1986, he was honored as an Outstanding American Composer at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and he was awarded the 2003 Gold Baton of the American Symphony Orchestra League.

Getty has recently devoted considerable attention to a pair of one-act operas, "Usher House" (derived from Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Fall of the House of Usher") and "The Canterville Ghost" (after Oscar Wilde’s tale). The former will be premiered in 2014 by the Welsh National Opera. Getty’s first opera, "Plump Jack," involving adventures of Shakespeare’s Sir John Falstaff, was premiered by the San Francisco Symphony in 1984 and has been revived by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, and London Philharmonia, among other ensembles. In 2011 the Munich Radio Orchestra and an international cast conducted by Ulf Schirmer performed a new concert version of "Plump Jack," which was simulcast on Bavarian Radio and released by PentaTone Classics. The same label is preparing the release of "Usher House," with Lawrence Foster conducting the Gulbenkian Orchestra Lisbon.

Getty, who studied at the San Francisco Conservatory, has produced a steady stream of compositions since the 1980s, beginning with "The White Election" (1981), a much-performed song cycle on poems by Emily Dickinson. It has been recorded twice—by Kaaren Erickson for Delos and by Lisa Delan for PentaTone—and has been performed in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and the Morgan Library (in New York), the Kennedy Center and National Gallery of Art (in Washington, D.C.), and the Hermitage Theatre (in St. Petersburg, Russia), among many other venues. His three-song cycle "Poor Peter" (2005) was included by Lisa Delan and pianist Kristin Pankonin on their PentaTone recital "And If the Song Be Worth a Smile," which features songs by six contemporary American composers.

Poetry from the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries has often inspired Getty in his vocal compositions. His choral works "Victorian Scenes" (1989, to texts by Tennyson and Housman) and "Annabel Lee" (1990, to a poem by Poe) were premiered by the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Sinfonia at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Michael Tilson Thomas led the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus in "Annabel Lee" in 1998 and 2004, on the latter occasion also premiering Getty’s "Young America" (2001), a cycle of six movements for chorus and orchestra to texts by the composer and by Stephen Vincent Benét. "Joan and the Bells," a cantata portraying the trial and execution of Joan of Arc, has been performed widely since its 1998 premiere, notably in a 2004 revival in St. George’s Chapel of Windsor Castle, under the baton of Mikhail Pletnev. In 2005, PentaTone released a CD of Getty’s principal choral works up to that time, performed by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (Michael Tilson Thomas conducting) and the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir and Russian National Orchestra (conducted by Alexander Verdernikov). Getty has recently completed choral works based on Keats’ "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," Hans Christian Andersen’s "The Little Match Girl," and an original poem that he modeled on Masefield, "The Old Man in the Night." He has written a new setting of the traditional text "Hodie Christus Natus Est" for children’s chorus or women’s chorus accompanied by chamber ensemble, and is currently expanding that into a triptych of similarly scored Christmas pieces.

Although most of Getty’s works feature the voice, he has also written for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and solo piano. In 2010, PentaTone released a CD devoted to six of his orchestral pieces, with Sir Neville Marriner conducting the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and in 2013 it followed up with a CD of the composer’s solo-piano works played by Conrad Tao. Currently in preparation is a PentaTone CD of his chamber music, which will include a string-quartet version of his "Four Traditional Pieces," a work that was performed in a string-orchestra arrangement by Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and the New Century Chamber Orchestra in 2012. Other recent performances of particular note featured his ballet "Ancestor Suite," which in 2009 was given its premiere staging, with choreography by Vladimir Vasiliev, by the Bolshoi Ballet and Russian National Orchestra at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, and was then presented at the 2012 Festival del Sole in Napa, California. Of his compositions Getty has said: “My style is undoubtedly tonal, though with hints of atonality, such as any composer would likely use to suggest a degree of disorientation. But I’m strictly tonal in my approach. I represent a viewpoint that stands somewhat apart from the twentieth century, which was in large measure a repudiation of the nineteenth and a sock in the nose to sentimentality. Whatever it was that the great Victorian composers and poets were trying to achieve, that’s what I’m trying to achieve.”

Getty’s music is published by Rork Music.

www.gordongetty.com

Melody Moore – Boy / Clarence

When Melody Moore made her debut in London at the English National Opera during the 2008-2009 season as Mimì in Puccini’s "La Bohème," she was widely acclaimed for her magnificent voice. Subsequently, she was re-invited to sing the role of Marguerite in Gounod’s "Faust." However, as a graduate of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a 2007 San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow, the young soprano made her first career moves in her native America. Major performances in the U.S.A. have included the Countess in Mozart’s "Le Nozze di Figaro" in Los Angeles, the title role in Puccini’s "Suor Angelica" at the Orlando Opera, and Donna Anna in Mozart’s "Don Giovanni" with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. At the New York City Opera, she sang in two contemporary operas, "Séance on a Wet Afternoon" by Stephen Schwartz and "Prima Donna" by Rufus Wainwright. Melody Moore has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Kent Nagano and Donald Runnicles.

Susanne Mentzer – Hostess (Nell Quickly)

Opera, concert singing, teaching – the American mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer focuses her artistic attention on all three areas. She was born in Philadelphia and first studied music therapy before entering the Juilliard School of Music in New York to train as a singer. In Europe, she has performed at all major opera houses from Milan to London. In the United States, in particular since 1989, she has received regular invitations to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where she has sung in various Mozart operas, as well as in the world premiere of Tan Dun’s "The First Emperor," sharing the stage with Plácido Domingo. She has also gained a reputation with her portrayal of various trouser roles, such as Cherubino ("Le Nozze di Figaro") and Octavian ("Der Rosenkavalier"). In concert, Susanne Mentzer has been widely acclaimed for her interpretations of works by Berlioz and Mahler. She has been a professor of voice at Rice University in Houston and has also taught at De Paul University and the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Nikolai Schukoff – Hal (Henry V)

The tenor Nikolai Schukoff was born in Graz, Austria. His repertoire is varied, ranging from Danilo in Lehár’s "Die Lustige Witwe" and Pollione in Bellini’s "Norma" to Dionysus in Henze’s "Die Bassariden." Other roles include Max in Weber’s "Der Freischütz," which he performed in Geneva and Salzburg, and Don José in Bizet’s "Carmen," which he sang in Baden-Baden, Zurich and, most recently, Hamburg. Nikolai Schukoff was especially successful in the title role of Wagner’s "Parsifal," which he performed in Munich and Dresden, among other cities. Subsequently, he was invited to sing this role in 2013 at the Easter Festival in Salzburg under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. As a concert singer, Nikolai Schukoff has sung with many major orchestras, including the Munich Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Nikolai Schukoff has often performed with conductor/pianist Christoph Eschenbach, with whom he also gives joint Lieder evenings.

Lester Lynch – Falstaff

One of the most important American operas, Gershwin’s "Porgy and Bess," holds an important position in Lester Lynch’s biography. The baritone, who was born in Ohio and studied at New York’s Juilliard School of Music, has performed in this opera in Washington, Chicago, and San Francisco; and he has also toured Europe with "Porgy and Bess" (with the Houston Grand Opera), alternately singing the roles of Porgy and Crown. However, Lester Lynch has also made a name for himself singing Verdi. Past roles have included the Count di Luna in "Il Trovatore" at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the Minnesota Opera, and Germont in "La Traviata" at the Cleveland Opera and Houston Grand Opera. At the Bregenz Festival 2011, he sang in Giordano’s "Andrea Chénier," under conductor Ulf Schirmer. Lester Lynch has demonstrated his enormous stylistic range in the concert field in performances including works such as Handel’s "Messiah," Fauré’s "Requiem," and Vaughan Williams’ "A Sea Symphony."

Christopher Robertson – Henry IV / Pistol

Partly thanks to the excellent training he received at Oberlin College (Ohio), Christopher Robertson has since enjoyed a remarkable career on both sides of the Atlantic. Since graduating in 1987, the American baritone has extended his diverse repertoire to include roles such as Scarpia in Puccini’s "Tosca" and Enrico in Donizetti’s "Lucia di Lammermoor," as well as rarely-performed pieces such as Massenet’s "Thaïs." Christopher Robertson has sung Agamemnon in Gluck’s "Iphigénie en Aulide" under Riccardo Muti at La Scala, and the title role in Mozart’s "Don Giovanni" under James Levine at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In San Francisco, he sang the role of Germont in "La Traviata," and in Houston, Kurwenal in Wagner’s "Tristan und Isolde." He has performed Verdi’s "Rigoletto" at the Komische Oper in Berlin and elsewhere. As a concert singer, he has sung in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 as well as in Britten’s "War Requiem."

Robert Breault – Shallow / First Captain

Thanks to his outstanding vocal and dramatic qualities, the American tenor Robert Breault has become a much sought-after artist. Highlights of the 2010-2011 season included Schubert’s Mass in E flat with the San Diego Symphony and Bach’s "St. John Passion" at the Bach Festival in Florida, as well as the role of Cavaradossi in Puccini’s "Tosca" at the Opera Edmonton in Canada (where he had also sung the Duke in Verdi’s "Rigoletto" during the previous season). Other engagements have included the role of Edgardo in Donizetti’s "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Utah Opera, and Don José in Bizet’s "Carmen" at the Arizona Opera. Robert Breault’s concert repertoire ranges from Baroque music to Orff’s "Carmina Burana." Other major orchestras with which he has performed include the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, as well as many American orchestras. Robert Breault is a professor and opera director at the University of Utah.

Ulf Schirmer, Conductor

Since 2006, Ulf Schirmer has been the Artistic Director of the Munich Radio Orchestra, with which he presents a varied program, ranging from operetta, opera and film music to the sacred music of 20th and 21st centuries in the series “Paradisi Gloria.” He always presents rarely-performed or unjustly-neglected works – recently, for instance, Lehár’s operetta "Das Fürstenkind" and Lortzing’s opera "Regina." Ulf Schirmer was born in Eschenhausen (near Bremen, Germany). He received his musical training from György Ligeti, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Horst Stein. He was assistant to Lorin Maazel, chief conductor of the Vienna State Opera, Music Director in Wiesbaden, and chief conductor of the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He is a regular guest at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Vienna State Opera, as well as at the Bregenz Festival, where he presented Giordano’s "Andrea Chénier" in summer 2011. He recently conducted Richard Strauss’s "Arabella" at the New National Theatre in Tokyo. In 2000, Ulf Schirmer was appointed a professor at the Hamburg Academy of Music. In 2009, he was appointed Music Director of the Leipzig Opera, and shortly afterwards Artistic Director. In Leipzig, Ulf Schirmer has conducted performances of Puccini’s "La Bohème," Humperdinck’s "Hänsel und Gretel," and Wagner’s "Lohengrin," among others.

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