John Adams's 2005 opera Doctor Atomic, which chronicles the hours leading to the detonation of the first atomic bomb, received its UK premiere this past Wednesday in English National Opera's production at the London Coliseum.

The Independent gives it four stars. Reviewer Edward Seckerson writes that the aria Adams wrote for the opera's central figure, J. Robert Oppenheimer, set to John Donne's sonnet “Batter my heart, three-person’d God,” "might just be the single most beautiful thing Adams has ever written." And, he continues, "There is more, much more, where that came from."

Seckerson wonders, "has scientific data ever sounded sexier?" and explains:

One of Adams’ theatrical tricks here—and as a composer with such an innate understanding of theatre he always has one or two up his sleeve—is his way of setting the mundane or impossibly complex to music of great beauty and simplicity. A chorus describing the process of nuclear fission assumes the tranquillity of a Bach chorale; a description of the effects of radium on the human body is so lyrical as to be almost sensuous.

He then goes on to describe the two types of music Adamms has used in the opera:

the busy, impatient, dryly kinetic music of scientific theory (and Adams harnesses his orchestra like a force of nature) and that which foreshadows and confronts the emotional consequences of the scientists’ actions. Oppenheimer found his refuge in poetry and in the intimate second scene of the opera with Kitty, his wife (Sasha Cooke, bravely negotiating the challenging vocal compass of the role) the heady poetry of Charles Baudelaire demands and gets an effusion of lyricism.

Read the full review at independent.co.uk.

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The Guardian gives the production four stars as well. Critic Andrew Clements also singles out "Batter My Heart" as "the standout musical number, especially when sung with the gilded beauty that Gerald Finley brings to it; his neurotic, chain-smoking Oppenheimer is a remarkable portrayal." Read the review at guardian.co.uk.

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The Times of London also gives the production four stars, with reviewer Richard Morrison calling the Donne aria "one of many stunning musical moments." He concludes of the opera: "It’s certainly worth a visit. Once again Adams has turned 20th-century history into absorbing, provocative music-theatre." Read the review at entertainment.timesonline.co.uk.

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There's another four star review in the Evening Standard and reviewer Barry Millington, who sees "savage beauty" in Adams's score. "Adams’s score blossoms where the text is poetic," says Millington, "but it’s also impressive where he’s on familiar ground: those metallic shards of sound, the flickering highlights, the nervous, jabbing rhythms all cohere into an exhilarating whole." Read the review at thisislondon.co.uk.

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The Financial Times's Richard Fairman, while critical of a number of aspects of the work, praises "Adams’s always involving music." He writes: "Although he still has minimalist motifs ticking away in the background, there is much else besides, from lavishly romantic orchestral writing reminiscent of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé to a moving setting of Donne’s Sonnet No 14."

He also has kind words for the performers. "The excellent Gerald Finley, who has played Oppenheimer in every city where the opera has been seen, sings with a magnetic beauty that his unsympathetic character hardly deserves," says Fairman. "As his wife, Kitty, Sasha Cooke shows off an impressive young soprano voice."

Read the full review at ft.com.

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The Daily Telegraph's Rupert Christiansen, while he too is critical of certain elements, says "there is much marvellous inspiration in the score – the impassioned setting of a Donne sonnet with which Oppenheimer concludes the first act, a lovely aria for Oppenheimer's wife Kitty, and the stunning Vishnu chorus, for example. Orchestrally too, the score is vastly more sophisticated than anything Adams has previously written in opera, the minimalist chug-chugging long behind him now." Read the review at telegraph.co.uk.