GLUCKORFEOEDEURIDICE (2015)

Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice, arguably the greatest opera of the 18th century before Mozart, has an unusually complicated textual history. It exists in its original Italian and a later French version, with musical revisions and different voice ranges, and the two have been combined in various ways, once by none other than Hector Berlioz, and put back into Italian. So, although it may seem odd to start off this three-disc set with a mashup of the 1762 Vienna and 1774 Paris versions, in Italian, which the performers call ... Read More

Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice, arguably the greatest opera of the 18th century before Mozart, has an unusually complicated textual history. It exists in its original Italian and a later French version, with musical revisions and different voice ranges, and the two have been combined in various ways, once by none other than Hector Berlioz, and put back into Italian. So, although it may seem odd to start off this three-disc set with a mashup of the 1762 Vienna and 1774 Paris versions, in Italian, which the performers call "Orpheo," such manipulation is in keeping with what has been done to the opera over its history. In fact, it may be handy to have a sort of highlights reel; the first disc matches how the performers have presented the music in concert. It is followed by a complete recording of the 1762 version. But really the strength of this recording lies in the performances themselves, which combine the efforts of two disparate creative figures gorgeously. The part of Orfeo, in its original range... Read Less

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2015, Archiv Produktion UPC: 028947953159 CD See All