Gordon Getty: Goodbye, Mr. Chips in Bloomington, MN

Composer
Gordon Getty
(he is the fourth son of
J. Paul Getty
) encountered
James Hilton
's 1933 novella of a famed schoolteacher in his youth and thought of making it into an opera. He realized the idea during the COVID-19 pandemic when he was in his late eighties. The pandemic required turning the initial production into a film, which was also released on a soundtrack recording, but this 2025
Pentatone
release was made in sessions at Skywalker Sound. That famed studio recorded the work nicely, and although physical album buyers get a full libretto, they may not need it much.
Hilton
's novel had an episodic, nostalgic structure that has posed challenges to its various adaptors for stage and film.
Getty
's solution, in his own libretto, is ingenious; he takes a minor character from
's book, Dr. Merrivale, and inserts him as a narrator, bringing the various storylines and psychological layers together into a story. This opens up various forms of operatic dialogue, from aria-like pieces to recitative-like prose structures from Merrivale, with wonderful effect. The language can vary from gentle chamber scenes to big pieces of romance with Chipping's ill-fated wife, Katherine. The key here is baritone
Lester Lynch
as Merrivale, who commands the role and sets the story-like action in motion. The other principals, soprano
Melody Moore
as Katherine and tenor
Nathan Granner
as Mr. Chips, are also strong and accessible in their roles.
's style is close to pure late Romanticism but is not quite that; it has some contemporary influences including a piano that plays a major role in moving the action forward. The booklet, and the Internet in general, have little to say about the
Barbary Coast Orchestra
heard here; it would be interesting to know whether someone thought of it as descended from an orchestra of that name that performed at Dartmouth College during World War II. The
San Francisco Boys' Chorus
is in top form and enunciates clearly. Those who haven't heard
's music before can check this out for an ideal personal taste; one factor precipitating the work's composition may have been
's own wife's death. ~ James Manheim