There are a lot of qualities that make David Lang’s The Loser compelling. This is a short piece (60 minutes) that features the title character (played by Rod Gilfry) appearing to float over the orchestra section and addressing the audience seated in the upper levels. There’s a secondary character played by award-winning composer and pianist Conrad Tao who is in the background and may or may not be the spirit of Glennn Gould. The Loser opens for two performances on Friday at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel and is part of LA Opera’s Off-Grand programming.
Lang, best known to local audiences for Anatomy Theatre, based this work on the novel The Loser by Thomas Bernhard. It tells the story of a man who committed suicide as told by his friend (Gilfry). They had both been piano prodigies at a master class conducted by Vladimir Horowitz. Glenn Gould also attended and it was there that the two men realized they would never achieve the same heights that Gould would.
Over the course of the one-hour opera, The Narrator, as Gilfry’s character is named, ultimately reveals far more about himself than he does about his recently-deceased friend.
Lang serves not just as composer and librettist, but also director and conductor for The Loser. The opera premiered in 2016 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Anthony Tommasini, in his review for the New York Times, said of the work, “the score is a model of how music can animate words. The text is set with impressive clarity, and Mr. Gilfry sings every phrase with crisp diction and dramatic point, delivering phrases with virile energy, sudden bluster, or, during vulnerable moments, an aching confusion that takes you by surprise.”
Check back on Wednesday for our interview with Gilfry.
Photo by Richard Termine/Courtesy of LA Opera