[Plump Jack] reveals an assured composer in full command of refreshingly direct contemporary romantic style...

[Plump Jack] is richly theatrical in its tempi, het humorous; there's a sock-it-to-'em drama along with lyricism.

Part one of Gordon Getty's Plump Jack...does the composer proud... A Falstaff leitmotif, first set forth in a sinuous chromatic line for solo harpsichord, is later stretched out in the brass to encompass the fellow's full enormity. All told, there is genuine dramatic sensibility at work here... Indeed the shadow of Strauss lies across much of Plump Jack... If Strauss is the model, in clarity and economy Getty's music stands on its own.

Getty's music is good... [In] Plump Jack he makes it clear that he knows how to write for voice, that he understands pacing, that he has a good sense of humor, and that he can translate that humor into an orchestral score.... The music is simple. The text flows in a natural, almost spoken form, while the orchestra enters and exits as needed to help Falstaff make a point or end a sentence with some authority... Getty uses a disjunct vocal line both to enhance the flavor of his music and to create images that match Shakespeare's verse... Eseentially he sticks to traditional harmonies, but there are times when he goes off on entirely surprising paths...