Jesus's last week told by the women history forgot — with a 100-piece orchestra.
Sir Simon Rattle, the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Rundfunkchor Berlin give an impeccable performance of the powerful biblical oratorio “The Gospel According to the Other Mary” by John Adams, one of the most renowned contemporary composers. The sophisticated score with a libretto by acclaimed theatre director Peter Sellars comes to life thanks to the Berliner Philharmoniker, whose intimate knowledge of Adams’s music stems from the composer himself: He attended the orchestra’s rehearsals. In the role of the Evangelist, Bubeck, Cummings and Medley lead through the narrative. A stunning highlight is Lazarus’s aria, sung by tenor Peter Hoare. But at the heart of the piece are Mary Magdalene and her sister Martha during the last days before Jesus’s death, impressively performed by mezzo-sopranos Kelley O’Connor and Tamara Mumford.
Score
Adams's shimmering minimalism erupts into full orchestral apocalypse.
Direction
Sellars's staging makes Mary Magdalene the protagonist she always was.
Acting
O'Connor and Mumford's duets cut through two millennia of erasure.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Adams attended every rehearsal with the Berlin Phil, rewriting passages in real time — a luxury almost no living composer receives.
Sellars constructed the libretto from Dorothy Day's prison diaries and Rosario Castellanos poems, making this less biblical adaptation than radical collage.
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