Robert Livingston Aldridge and Herschel Garfein had a major success with Elmer Gantry, their opera based on the 1926 novel by Sinclair Lewis; they even won a 2012 Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for the recording of the original 2008 Nashville Opera production (Naxos, 11/11). The team turned to Theodore Dreiser’s 1900 novel Sister Carrie for their most recent collaboration, another powerful work that, on the basis of this superb Naxos recording of the Florentine Opera premiere production in 2016, deserves to become a staple in opera houses in America and beyond.

Aldridge and Garfein are both composers but they’ve undertaken specific assignments for their operas, with the former composing the music and the latter devising the librettos. Their artistic contributions merge seamlessly in Sister Carrie, a ‘star is born’ tale charting the concurrent rise of a young actress and decline of her husband. The work explores class, ambition and failure to bold effect, notably as catapulted by Aldridge’s richly dramatic and soaring score. The writing for voices, including chorus, evinces the composer’s mastery of emotional and theatrical gestures, and the orchestra plays a key role in illuminating the drama.

The Naxos performance preserves the excitement of the original production. William Boggs leads the excellent Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in a vibrant reading of the score. The principal singers – mezzo-soprano Adriana Zabala (as Carrie), baritone Keith Phares (Hurstwood), tenor Matt Morgan (Drouet), soprano Alisa Suzanne Jordheim (Lola) and bass-baritone Stephen Cunningham (Abdul/Captain) – set high standards for future casts. Here’s to yet another Aldridge-Garfein creation.