Gordon Getty’s Falstaff opera, Plump Jack, has been gestating since at least 1985, when one early scene was performed with the San Francisco Symphony. Getty says he hears movie music in his opera more than any specific classical influences, and indeed, like the best film composers, he has a sure instinct for using bold, primary colors to tell a story. Even when his vocal melodies occasionally meander, the orchestra provides imaginative texture and characterization. And one always hears Getty’s reverence for the beauty of Shakespeare’s language. He adapted his libretto with great fidelity from the two Henry IV plays and Henry V. In general, Getty handles his self-avowedly conservative musical language with skill and sophistication. One standout passage is Henry IV’s lament for what he foresees as the decline of the kingdom under his son Hal, a thoughtful, mournfully effective blend of vivid accompaniment with an expressive vocal line. Henry’s deathbed scene is also emotionally potent; Getty seems to be at his most eloquent with the aging king…. The dramatic high point of the opera occurs when Hal…rebuffs his old crony Falstaff at the inauguration. The painful string tremolos deliver the message with cutting certainty, and the new king ends his long denunciation…on repeated, ringing high Gs…. [It] is an impressive contrast to his beautiful Scene 2 aria, a sincere, triadic and touching appeal to his father for forgiveness…. The “Lament for Falstaff” in the last scene starts with a brief funeral march…compelling enough that it could easily have been extended. Hostess Quickly describes Falstaff’s death, amid harpsichord and clanging mallets, in a beautifully dramatized monologue… The score then turns rousing and military, leading to brass and full chorus. The materials for this end sequence are assembled and paced with a sure hand, and Getty has the courage to end the opera softly, rather than with a bang.