Customer Reviews

Gluck - Orphée & Eurydice (Berlioz version) / von Otter, Barbara Hendricks, Fournier, Gardiner

5 star:		(3)
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I am amazed that there is only one (albeit the rating is the same as mine) review for this recording. It is absolutely perfect both vocally and instrumentally. There is not a weak place anywhere. In her Act I aria, von Otter is astonishing and the blending of the voices in the Act II duets is superb. The energy is breathtaking and Gardiner's pace and direction is precise. A wholly satisfying work to listen to again and again

I'm a fifteen-year-old who's recently become an opera buff. Even though I generally prefer the likes of Puccini, Mozart, Bizet, and Offenbach to baroque opera, I've been listening to Gluck's "Orfeo/Orphée" a lot in the past year. Finding out that the movie "Moulin Rouge!" is loosely based on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth got me interested in it, and I've heard almost every major recording of it now. Thid one is one of the best. Anne Sofie von Otter's Orpheus is meltingly beautiful and passionately acted, her only flaw being that she sounds a little too feminine sometimes. Barbara Hendricks is a little breathy somethimes, but for the most part, her Eurydice is beautifully sung and appropriately intense. Brigitte Fournier is one of my favorite Amors. So many sopranos disappoint me in that role because they don't sound youthful enough, but that's not a problem with Fournier at all. The chorus is very good, and I love the energy of Gardiner's conducting. In short, this recording surpasses many of the others out there, and I'm very happy to have heard it.

Gluck - Orphée & Eurydice (Berlioz version) / von Otter, Barbara Hendricks, Fournier, Gardiner is a recording under the direction of John Elliot Gardiner who leads the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon and starring Ann Sofie Von Otter as Orphée on this EMI Digital recording from 1989. Max Loppert's essay "The Gluck-Berlioz 'Orphée et Eurydice" is very interesting and well-written. Lopper has also written the synopsis. John Elliot Gardiner has written a short and concise introduction to the opera. The lyrics are available in English, French and German. Being Swedish I am of course very proud of Ann Sofie Von Otters performance and I think she does an outstanding job. Highly recommended. 5/5.