BIRTWHISTLE: The Minotaur - Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus, Antonio Pappano (2 DVD)
BIRTWHISTLE: The Minotaur - Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus, Antonio Pappano (2 DVD)
FORMAT (CD, LP, DVD?)
FORMAT (CD, LP, DVD?)
John Tomlinson (The Minotaur); Johan Reuter (Theseus); Christine Rice (Ariadne); Andrew Watts (Snake Priestess); Philip Langridge (Hiereus);
This world premiere of a gripping new work by composer Harrison Birtwistle and librettist David Harsent, commissioned by The Royal Opera, brings the monstrous, Greek mythological character to the stage. John Tomlinson stars as the Minotaur, part man, part beast, trapped in his labyrinth and constrained by his bloodthirsty role there, longs to discover his true identity and his own voice. Athens must pay a blood sacrifice to Crete and among the innocents is Theseus, who has come to challenge the violent Minotaur, but who also attracts the attention of Ariadne, half-sister and keeper of the monster; it is with her help he succeeds. Antonio Pappano conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House.
"The impact of the opera is greatly heightened not just by the casting but by the staging by Stephen Langridge at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, very well filled on this DVD, with simple yet vividly atmospheric designs by Alison Chitty. The role of The Minotaur as a sort of Jekyll and Hyde figure was expressly designed for John Tomlinson, the famed Wotan from Bayreuth and centrally cast too in Birtwistle's earlier Gawain. His voice may no longer be as steady as it was, but his singing could not be more moving." (The Penguin Guide)
"Thanks to a superb cast and impeccable playing under Antonio Pappano, the evening is a glittering success...what Birtwistle has done is give us one opera inside another. The outer one is strident and earthbound; theinner one - ending with the Minotaur's Caliban-like dying aria - burns with visionary fire." (The Independent)
"This opera, premiered at the Royal Opera last April, seems to me to be a masterpiece, of the kind that one feels the greatness of before one has a complete understanding of it...Christine Rice [as Ariadne], bearing the weight of exposition and of suffering, uses her wonderfully rich mezzo to stunning effect." (BBC Music Magazine)
"Birtwistle's latest large-scale music drama, written for Covent Garden, is a quite different experience on DVD: what might have been planned by composer and stage director to be witnessed from a distance is shown in unsparing close-up. But this seething, monumental reinvention of one of the most disquieting Greek myths with a pithy libretto by David Harsent is neither betrayed nor diminished by this excellent film." (Gramophone)
Extra features
Documentary - 'Myth Is Universal'. Illustrated Synopsis and Cast gallery.
GREAT SAVINGS - LSO LIVE AND KING'S COLLEGE CHOIR
-
Bach: St John Passion - ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC / STEPHEN CLEOBURY (2 HYBRID SACDS)
Regular price $5.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$23.96 USDSale price $5.99 USDSale -
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2; Triple Concerto - BERNARD HAITINK / MARIA JOAO-PERES / LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (HYBRID SACD)
Regular price $4.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$19.96 USDSale price $4.99 USDSale -
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 / Leonore Overture No. 2 - BERNARD HAITINK / LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (HYBRID SACD)
Regular price $5.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$23.96 USDSale price $5.99 USDSale -
Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini - SIR COLIN DAVIS / LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (2 HYBRID SACDS)
Regular price $6.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$27.96 USDSale price $6.99 USDSale -
Berlioz: Harold En Italie / La Mort De Cleopatre - VALERY GERGIEV / LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (HYBRID SACD)
Regular price $4.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$19.96 USDSale price $4.99 USDSale -
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique / Waverley Oveture) - VALERY GERGIEV / LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (2 Discs, incl. Blu-Ray Audio, Hybrid SACD Versions and Live Concert Footage)
Regular price $5.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$23.96 USDSale price $5.99 USDSale -
Bernstein: Chichester Psalms / Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem - BRITTEN SINFONIA / STEPHEN CLEOBURY (HYBRID SACD)
Regular price $4.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$19.96 USDSale price $4.99 USDSale -
Brahms: German Requiem - VALERY GERGIEV / LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (HYBRID SACD)
Regular price $4.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$19.96 USDSale price $4.99 USDSale -
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 - BERNARD HAITINK / LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (HYBRID SACD)
Regular price $4.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$19.96 USDSale price $4.99 USDSale -
Britten: Peter Grimes - SIR COLIN DAVIS / LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (3 HYBRID SACDS)
Regular price $6.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$27.96 USDSale price $6.99 USDSale -
Britten: The Turn Of The Screw - LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA / FARNES (2 HYBRID SACD)
Regular price $5.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$23.96 USDSale price $5.99 USDSale -
Bruckner: Mass In E Minor, Motets - KINGS COLLEGE CHOIR / CLEOBURY (HYBRID SACD)
Regular price $4.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$19.96 USDSale price $4.99 USDSale -
Byrd: Motets - KINGS COLLEGE CHOIR / CLEOBURY
Regular price $4.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$19.96 USDSale price $4.99 USDSale -
Durufle: Requiem - ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTMENT / STEPHEN CLEOBURY (HYBRID SACD)
Regular price $5.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$23.96 USDSale price $5.99 USDSale -
Dvorak: Symphony No. 6 - SIR COLIN DAVIS / LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Regular price $4.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$19.96 USDSale price $4.99 USDSale -
Haydn: Die Schopfung (The Creation) - SIR COLIN DAVIS / LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Regular price $5.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$23.96 USDSale price $5.99 USDSale -
Liszt, Reubke & Mendelssohn: Organ Works - STEPHEN CLEOBURY
Regular price $4.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$19.96 USDSale price $4.99 USDSale -
LOVE FROM KING'S - THE KING'S MEN
Regular price $4.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$19.96 USDSale price $4.99 USDSale -
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 - VALERY GERGIEV / LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (HYBRID SACD)
Regular price $5.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$23.96 USDSale price $5.99 USDSale -
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 & 10 - VALERY GERGIEV / LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (2 HYBRID SACD)
Regular price $5.99 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$23.96 USDSale price $5.99 USDSale