David Carlson: Anna Karenina [Import]

David Carlson (Composer), Colin Graham (Composer), Stewart Robertson (Conductor), Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Opera Theatre of Saint Louis
• Orchestra: Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Stewart Robertson
• Composer: David Carlson, Colin Graham
• Audio CD (April 28, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Signum UK
• ASIN: B001O3MLHW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #265,296 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

World Premiere Recording. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is a mastework of 19th Century literature; a parable on the struggle for personal freedom against the conventions of a hostile society, play our in a tragic love story. Contains a libretto by director Colin Graham after the novel by Leo Tolstoy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful, January 20, 2011

By 

gary bukovnik (san francisco, california United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: David Carlson: Anna Karenina (Audio CD)

Finally a recording available of what must be one of the most beautiful of modern operas. Written in a contemporary and romantic tonal fashion, I was completely blown away by the power of the music and the composer's ability to communicate the story.
The performance is uniformly excellent. Taken from a series of live performances, the sound is brilliant and almost demonstration quality.
All in all I would recommend this to anyone. Listen ing to this also opened for me the other compositions on cd of David Carlson. I am now a complete admirer of this great living composer.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lush and Beautiful Modern Opera, January 15, 2011

By 

A. Long "One Who Cares" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: David Carlson: Anna Karenina (Audio CD)

This is a fantastic piece of contemporary opera. The music is consistently gorgeous, it compliments the story beautifully. The singing is excellent throughout and the orchestra is first rate. Everyone is sure to enjoy this piece.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars American Opera, October 31, 2010

By 

ALFRED H. Harris "Alfred the Great" (Prunedale, Ca.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: David Carlson: Anna Karenina (Audio CD)

I'm sure this opera will be popular with young people.Frenzied action, huge cast. Good, but pretty consistently loud, music. No recognizable tunes. The main problem is the libretto probably suffering from the fact tht the librettist died at about the same time as the opera was completed. There would not appear to have been much of the interplay that Verdi had with Boito, or even more infamously Puccini with Illica where the consistent theme was prune the story. I longed for Karenina, the cuckolded spouse, to sing an "El a gamai m'amo" or for Anna to sing the equivalent of "the letter scene". Virtually no musical painting of charachters, it was all action, ACTION, ACTION. Wow, she fell under a train, I missed that. Compare this opera with a somewhat similar dark story by Tolstoy, "Risurezione" by Alfano. Alfano's work is far superior.