"Darkling" is a story that has taken many forms, first as bits of memorabilia found in a shoebox, then as a book-length poem, to a multimedia experimental opera, to its current incarnation as an Albany Records CD.
When writing the original poem, librettist Anna Rabinowitz was able to take the scraps of memorabilita and form a cohesive unit by creating an acrostic poem inspired by Thomas Hardy's "The Darkling Thrush."
The American Opera Project, with director Michael Comlish and composer Stefan Weisman then decided to turn Darkling into an opera.
Weisman was intrigued by the acrostic form of Rabinowitz's poem and wanted to incorporate the acrostic form into the compositional process.
Weisman and Rabinowitz are both New York City-based artists.
The two-disc recording covers about one and a half hours of music. Performers include Maeve Höglund (soprano), Hai-Ting Chinn (mezzo-soprano), Jon Garrison (tenor), Mark Uhlemann (bass-baritone), Tom Chiu (violin), Philip Patyon (violin), Kenji Bunch (viola), Raman Ramakrishnan (cello), and Brian DeMaris (conductor)
The narrator of the story is a woman, Anna, whose family had been murdered in the Holocaust. She rummages through old memorabilia in an attempt to piece together her family history and to rediscover herself.
In the story, Anna's mother had hastily married in Poland before heading off to America. Yet much of the libretto features imagery and word-painting.
The minimalist string quartet introduction set the dark tone for the opera. There are several other instances where the composer makes effective use of minimalist texture.
For example, on track 8 of the first disc, the high A in the violin seems to simplisticly echo the mezzo-soprano who sings, "they will not ask me why..." And on track 3 of the second disc, the strings create a mood while the singers describe "the pen's blueprint."
Yet the score also has passages of lush melodies and folk tunes, as seen in tracks 4 and 5 of disc 1 ("scattershot clips" followed by a flashback of the wedding).
The final track of disc 1, the multiple voices ask, "who will remember what to forget?"
This CD is not easy listening, as the subject matter is quite heavy. There is no cohesive plot (though that only further illustrates the problem of memory). This is a weighty work that yields deeper meaning upon multiple listenings.
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