Floyd: Susannah
Lyon Opera
Kent Nagano
This was unknown territory for me. I had heard of the opera but I had no idea of what to expect. It wasn’t planned as such but the opera in fact fits very well in the middle of extremes of the two previous operas. There are strong American folk elements but also some much more impassioned moments. It is a difficult mixture to bring off but I think that Floyd managed it well. The folk elements set the scene well and set up the scheme for the dramatic confrontations and the near hysteria of the preacher’s sermon, which forms the central core of the opera. I can’t quite imagine how it would play to a British audience - the frame of reference of the American South is so remote from our experience that it might be difficult to take entirely seriously But in purely music terms this was a strong score.
