Paul Moravec – The Shining
Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Gerard Schwarz
Pentatone PTC5187036 (operatheshining.com)
In an isolated mountain hotel with a blood-soaked past, ghostly voices and visions propel a troubled man’s descent into murderous madness. “Opera’s power as an art-form,” writes Buffalo-born, Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Moravec, “springs from its essentially primordial, irrational nature. It’s ideally suited to the adaptation of Mr. King’s irresistibly compelling story.” Opera goers agree; since its 2016 Minnesota Opera premiere, The Shining has been enthusiastically received in San Francisco, Atlanta and Kansas City, where this two-CD set was recorded in 2023.
Mark Campbell says his libretto (included in the booklet) hews closer to Stephen King’s novel than to Stanley Kubrick’s film (not having read the book nor seen the movie, I’ll take his word for it). Moravec’s score, however, is thoroughly “cinematic” – in the best sense – effectively creating an agitated, discordant atmosphere of irrationality and impending violence.
Heading the cast of 17 soloists is baritone Edward Parks, vocally powerful and dramatically convincing as the tormented Jack Torrance. Soprano Kelly Kaduce is sympathetic as his loving but fearful wife Wendy. The hotel’s cook, Dick Hallorann (baritone Aubrey Allicock) recognizes the psychic abilities – “the shining” – of the Torrances’ son Danny (treble Tristan Hallett), becoming his supportive friend.
Enhancing the opera’s theatrical impact, Torrance’s hallucinations were seen and heard by the audience; hopefully, they were immune to the phantasms’ murder-inducing influence. Immune, thankfully, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City Chorus, Kansas City Symphony and conductor Gerard Schwarz contributed greatly to this performance’s unrelenting intensity.
