Concert Review: Another Trip to Golgotha

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra offers John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

At the controls: conductor David Robertson. Photo by Scott Ferguson.

There is some debate as to whether The Gospel According to the Other Mary, the 2013 work for soloists, chorus and orchestra by composer John Adams, is an opera or an oratorio. For Friday night's performance at Carnegie Hall, conductor David Robertson chose the latter option, presenting a straight concert performance of this two-act work on the wide but shallow stage of Stern Auditorium.