COMPOSER: ANTHONY DAVIS
LIBRETTIST: THULANI DAVIS
ALBUM: X, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MALCOLM X
LABEL: GRAMAVISION
THE BOTTOM LINE: A powerful opera brings vividly to life the rage and pain of an incendiary figure.
THE GAP BETWEEN THE DEATH OF A public figure and his operatic commemoration is getting shorter all the time. The ancient Greeks and Romans had to wait millenniums before their reincarnation on the European stage; even Don Carlos' career move from Spanish royalty to Verdi opera took a couple of centuries.
Modern artists aren't so patient. The past decade or so has witnessed operas on such...