Jonathan Berger: M¿¿¿ Lai

by Rinde Eckert, Van-Anh Vanessa Vo, Kronos Quartet

Overview

The My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War (in March of 1968) may not be remembered by younger listeners, but this operatic monodrama by composer Jonathan Berger has garnered performances in multiple places and may do its part to commemorate the murder of 500 innocent villagers by American soldiers. Berger tells the story through the memories of a single individual, helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson, who saw what was happening, tried to intervene, and later worked tirelessly to bring the massacre to public view. The episode became a key turning point in American public attitudes toward the war. Berger's opera takes place as Thompson is on his deathbed, remembering the massacre and his actions at the time; a quiz show playing on television in his room is heard from time to time. Berger deploys musical elements, setting Harriet Scott Chessman's libretto in an extraordinarily powerful way. The opera begins with the sound of Vietnamese traditional instruments, played by Van-Anh Vanessa Vo. The listener also hears J.B. Lenoir's "Vietnam Blues," and Thompson's thoughts and recollections are woven together by music for string quartet, here played by the venerable Kronos Quartet. Everything comes together here. Chessman tells the story through short units of text that transmit fully through music, and Rinde Eckert, a composer himself, is compelling as Thompson. Most powerful of all is Berger's music, which has a remarkable urgency as if the composer were trying to recall these horrible events to the American consciousness. A superb operatic release that, one hopes, will bring further performances of the work. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	12/02/2022
Label:	Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
UPC:	0093074025116
Rank:	75082

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Rinde Eckert   Primary Artist,Vocals
Van-Anh Vanessa Vo   Primary Artist,Dan Bau,Dan Tranh,Bamboo Xylophone
Kronos Quartet   Primary Artist,String Quartet

Technical Credits

J.B. Lenoir   Original Material
Frank Proschan   Editorial Assistant
David Harrington   Creative Consultant
Robert Kirby   Assistant Engineer
Kronos Quartet   Mixing,Producer
Daniel E. Sheehy   Executive Producer
Scott Fraser   Mixing,Engineer,Producer,Mastering
Zoran Orlic   Photography
Mary Monseur   Production Manager
Kate Harrington   Production Assistant
Janet Cowperthwaite   Executive Producer
Jonathan Berger   Composer,Annotation,Liner Notes
James Deutsch   Editorial Assistant
Reshena Liao   Project Supervisor
John Smith   Executive Producer
Caroline Gut   Design,Art Direction
David Calleja   Liner Note Translation
Harriet Scott Chessman   Librettist
Ronald Haeberle   Cover Photo
Tran Van Djuc   Annotation,Liner Notes