As I recall Adam Guettel’s 1998 song cycle Saturn Returns—which was recorded and released for licensing under the title Myths and Hymns—it started remarkably, heralding a dynamically interesting composer/lyricist, changed pace to relieve the intensity and give the audience some breathing room, developed with increasingly intriguing material, and culminated even more remarkably than it began.
The MasterVoices chorus and artistic director Ted Sperling, who was music director of both the staged and recorded versions of Guettel’s song cycle, are in the process of giving us Myths and Hymns broken into four streamed chapters. When I say “giving us,” I mean just that: The show is available for free, albeit with donations welcome. The second installment, Work, is now on view.
[Read David Finkle’s ★★★☆☆ review here.]
Chapter 1 of the MasterVoices series, Flight, was, as impactful as the opening section of the staged song cycle; so much so that I’ve watched the 28-minute piece three times thus far. (You can read the review of Chapter 1 here.) Chapter 2: Work is—well, a change of pace. This is altogether necessary in the course of a full evening of high musical drama; but as a separate 20-minute chapter, it is a considerable letdown.
Work starts with “Down and Up and Over and Over,” a 40-second snatch likely intended to serve as an internal link between two major numbers—a function it doesn’t attempt here. “Children of the Heavenly King” is significantly more interesting, based on one of the 19th century hymns Guettel used as direct inspiration for the song cycle. It runs a mere minute, though, and given that it comes near the beginning of the episode, it has diminished impact despite the fine performance by Anthony Roth Costanzo. Next comes a second hymn, “At the Sounding,” which also runs under two minutes.
These three pieces, if performed while we’re still sitting in our seats directly following the portions of Myths and Hymns which are now included in Chapter 1, serve a distinct purpose. As the beginning of the streamed Chapter 2, though, and constituting almost a quarter of the whole, they seem inconsequential. What’s more, the visual/animation components—which played a significant part in the power of Chapter 1—are here distinctly moderate.
Then we come to the meat of Chapter 2, three significant pieces which share the overall power of Myths and Hymns. “Build a Bridge” is a thoroughly involving plaint about the difficulty of expressing love. (“I’m trying to get there” but “the water’s wide” so I must “build a bridge.”) It is here presented with extreme power and emotional despair by Michael McElroy. Sperling, who directed two of the seven musical segments of Chapter 2, places his singer on a rock by a stream beneath what appears to be a stone bridge in Central Park, complete with calming still water and patches of snow in the sun. Instantly, this second chapter of Myths and Hymns reverts to the high quality of Chapter 1.
Next comes “Sisyphus,” one of the several comic pieces within the myths of Myths and Hymns. (While most of the words in the song cycle are by Guettel, this one credits additional lyrics to Ellen Fitzhugh.) An amusing Daniel Breaker—mostly in animated form—plays the hero fated to roll rocks up a hill forever, through what is described as “many a millennium ahead.” John Lithgow, in the flesh but in such extreme closeup that he might as well be cartooned, gives us the amusing extended narration. “Sisyphus” is total delight, as directed by Anne Kauffman and animated by Manik Choksi. (The latter, under the name Nick Choksi, played Dolokhov in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.) So delightful that after “Build a Bridge” and “Sisyphus,” any qualifications about the early portions of Chapter 2 are overrun.
This is followed by “Life Is But a Dream,” another introspective soliloquy (“from where I sit it doesn’t seem/ that life is but a dream”), powerfully delivered by Shoshana Bean who is simply filmed, recording the song by a rustic fireplace.
Chapter 2 ends with a scat piece named, for reasons unknown, “Every Poodle.” This is highly animated, built around—most obviously—a poodle chasing what seem to be 40-odd tennis balls that eventually devolve into the faces of the MasterVoices ensemble (who are present in many of the evening’s numbers). There is a place for a divertissement like this in the course of a high-octane 90-minute concert. Coming at the end of the brief Chapter 2, though—and monopolizing more of the running time than the other numbers—it is what the composer’s grandfather’s collaborator famously termed “a puzzlement.”
All of which leaves us, after the exhilarating high of Chapter 1, with something of a letdown from this Chapter 2. Rest assured, though, that the best—in terms of Myths and Hymns—is yet to come. Which is to say, we still haven’t heard most of those astonishing Guettel masterworks. Stay tuned for Chapter 3 (streaming April 14) and Chapter 4 (May 26).
Myths and Hymns, Chapter 2: Work was streamed beginning February 24, 2021. Information and link: mastervoices.org
