5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Opera
Seth Colter Walls, Times music critic
Plenty of operas channel the ardor of lovers separated by distance. Yet Kaija Saariaho’s “L’Amour de Loin” is special for how it weaves voluptuous melody within experimental designs. A sensuous peak arrives during the second act, when a pilgrim informs a countess about a troubadour who is singing the noblewoman’s praises from afar, sight unseen. Ms. Saariaho’s early-music inspirations are here, but laced with contemporary harmony.
Mark Morris, choreographer
At gunpoint, I say “Sull’aria,” from “Le Nozze di Figaro” by Mr. W.A. Mozart, a very good composer. This shockingly intimate duet is the real feminist secret of this masterpiece. It is a perfect and nearly unbearable glimpse of fear, hope, sorority, adoration, doubt, encouragement, mystery, sadness, hope against hope, kindness, anxiety, power, eros. It is so natural, so casual, so “Bye Bye Birdie,” so slumber party, so improvised. The women listen to one another as no men would ever be allowed to, at least not in Mozart.