NIXON IN CHINA has established itself within the opera canon, but it’s difficult to allocate the work to a specific genre. It’s almost a hybrid. What stands out about NIXON to you?

Daniel Carter There’s an entire world within NIXON IN CHINA: The music is very groovy and rhythmic in spots, almost poppy. There are sudden moments of romance, great opera melodies, jazz and big band swing. You can tell from the composition that Adams must have had a lot of fun drawing on unlimited resources. For the first time, he had all the resources of opera at his disposal. It’s because of this youthful freshness that the piece reminds me of the early operas from Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who wrote DIE TOTE STADT at the age of twenty. There, too, you feel the vitality of a young composer with an abundance of inspiration.

Does this delighting in eclecticism not contradict the formal strictness of minimal music, such as that by Steve Reich or Terry Riley?

Daniel Carter These compositions are based strictly on the idea of repetition, and you often only hear the minimal changes minutes later. Adams is heavily influenced by these early works of minimal music. NIXON IN CHINA is largely built around patterns and loops that dull our sense of time. Yet he goes one big step further than the traditional minimalists, and even further than Philip Glass’ EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH: Adams injects stronger contrasts and draws from more influences. For example, he joyfully supplements the minimal foundation with big band and twelve-tone music, with references to Richard Wagner and other composers. This makes it a very American piece: a big melting pot. At the same time, there is a great radicalism and anarchy within the work, such as a reference to Richard Strauss directly transitioning into pop music and synths. It is truly postmodern.

In terms of dramaturgy, NIXON contains parallels to the grand opera of the 19^th century: There is an opening aria by the titular protagonist, a ballet, a big choral finale to the first act…

Daniel Carter But then there’s this third act, which breaks away from all convention! It’s almost like the final act in Massenet’s DON QUICHOTTE when it becomes philosophical and intimate. NIXON also has an anticlimactic structure like this. The loneliness after the big party is a rather unusual dramaturgical concept in opera – and when loneliness is shown, it’s only with regard to dying. But here it’s about reflection and philosophy. Zhou Enlai’s closing monologue is also unique in opera history because the piece ends with openness, loneliness, and a big question.

The third act is also musically different from the first two. You almost get the feeling that the composition is dissolving, the musical framework imploding.

Daniel Carter The music is less compact and there is no longer a clear direction. In the first and second acts, everything is charging straight ahead. As a listener, you know where it’s going – you can predict the chord changes. But in the third act, you find yourself in a sort of musical suspension with an unknown resolution. When the opera begins, Adams inserts A minor scales in continuous eighths, while the third act mainly contains sixteenths. The bass line is also one sixteenth ahead, the accompaniment one sixteenth behind. Where there should be a beat, there is nothing. Your own expectations of what you are hearing are let down and you become disoriented: You notice that something is changing but you don’t know what. It’s a very unnerving sensation. Adams also places a question mark here in the form of the music itself.

How does Adams write for opera voices?

Daniel Carter The voices are composed in very traditional vocal melodies, although we find minimalist patterns in the great arias by the Nixons and Madame Mao. Zhou Enlai, on the other hand, is an exceptional role from the start because his melodies are always fully composed, even if the accompaniment is repetitive. This corresponds with his character description, as Goodman and Adams portray him as very reflective and a visionary. This is surprising from an American opera: In this story, the Americans are not the great heroes or thinkers. You notice this in the third scene when Nixon responds to Zhou Enlai’s philosophical monologue with cowboy-esque music.

Alex Ross describes Zhou Enlai, with his sophisticated rhetoric and elegant baritone voice, as the “good conscience” of the work. Nixon, also a baritone, gives off an impression of being pompous and neurotic. Nixon is contrasted with Mao, who is piercing and sharp in his high tenor tessitura. The big meeting occurs relatively early in the opera, in the second scene. How did Adams translate this historic meeting into music?

Daniel Carter It’s the most difficult section, musically, because it’s heavily detailed and the rhythms are unpredictable. You never know what’s going to happen next, and we in the audience notice this. The communication between Mao and his guests falters in each performance of the opera just as it did in real life. The hard cuts in the scene illustrate the conflagrating competition between Nixon and Mao, and they both swing very high. And the Americans are once again left with nothing because there is no getting through to Mao. He represents a major power with the support of his three secretaries, who echo his statements like a backing choir. Adams closely interlinks libretto and music here, ingeniously giving musical shape to the contents.

What are the challenges of producing this opera?

Daniel Carter European opera tradition is centred around the acoustics, which is one reason why the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin sounds so unbelievably beautiful. In the anglosphere, on the other hand, we learn music with a heavy focus on rhythm and only deal with the acoustics later. This is how we have to approach NIXON: Timing is the top priority because the composition is rhythmically unforgiving. Normally, I can adapt somewhat to the tempo of the singers with the orchestra – we can stretch time out or catch up. Here, though, the machine just grinds on without mercy. It’s an adjustment in a certain way. But once we’re all practised, the piece comes alive: Musical relationships and transitions come to the surface, and the entire orchestra and cast begin to dance with each other.

You have to focus on the time, whereas when we’re listening we feel as though we’re losing all sense of time.

Daniel Carter Yes, that’s one of the most striking experiences you can have when listening to minimal music. I still remember the first time I heard EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH by Philip Glass live. During the applause I looked down at my watch and thought, no way that was nearly five hours of non-stop music! That’s a great feeling.