Pete Townshend's Classic Quadrophenia
finds the singer/songwriter turning his 1973 rock opera into a full-fledged opera. Enlisting his partner
Rachel Fuller
to adapt the album into a classical piece,
Townshend
found a sensitive, simpatico collaborator who manages to retain the oversized dramatic sweep of the piece. Similarly, conductor
Robert Ziegler
leads
the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
through the piece with gusto, mirroring the majesty of
the Who
if not the mayhem. Generally, that's the curious thing about
Classic Quadrophenia
: it is recognizably the album in its form but not quite in feel. Some of that is due to this not being a
Who
record, of course, but shifting the piece into the classical realm ratchets up the melancholy that runs throughout the opera, making it less an explosion of teenage angst and more of a bittersweet reflection. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine