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In this opera about monomania and desperation, the stakes somehow seem low.
Thats all rich stuff for a composer, since music is a tool for translating one sensation into another.
Sunshine, pain, waves, cracking hulls a well-carpentered orchestral score can convey it all.
Heggie attempts all this.
And Heggie is familiar with how to summon an orchestral storm and paint the portrait of a proud hunter.
Hes studied operatic conflicts between leaders and the led.
Swells surge then abate, storms get grumpy but never plausibly murderous.
The opera is too domesticated, earthbound, and companionable to convey that extreme bleakness.
Moby-Dickis at the Metropolitan Opera through March 29.
