Gluck - Iphigénie en Tauride / Delunsch · Keenlyside · Beuron · Naouri · Cousin · Les Musiciens du Louvre · Minkowski [Import]

Christoph Willibald Gluck (Composer), Marc Minkowski (Conductor), Les Musiciens du Louvre (Orchestra), Mireille Delunsch (Performer), Simon Keenlyside (Performer), Yann Beuron (Performer), Laurent Naouri (Performer), Alexia Cousin (Performer), Claire Delgado-Boge (Performer), Nicki Kennedy (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Mireille Delunsch, Simon Keenlyside, Yann Beuron, Laurent Naouri, Alexia Cousin, et al.
• Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Louvre
• Conductor: Marc Minkowski
• Composer: Christoph Willibald Gluck
• Audio CD (March 1, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Archiv Prod Import
• ASIN: B00005AAFC
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,933 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Following the success of 1999's thrilling Armide, Marc Minkowski and his excellent cast fully convey the power and drama of Gluck's masterpiece. They pull you into the story (based on a play by Euripides) through the emotional truth of their interpretation. The opening quiet strings create an air of mystery dispelled by a ferocious storm magnificently conveyed by these early-music specialists. Within a few phrases of Iphigénie's opening lament, Delunsch creates a believable, sympathetic character. Keenlyside as Oreste and Beuron as his sidekick, Pylade, pack a ton of emotion into their singing, too. Minkowski takes chances, going for the emotional jugular in ways that some may find excessive. But the stakes involved for these characters are of the life-and-death variety, and this recording gets that across as no other does. A more contained version by Martin Pearlman's Boston Baroque on Telarc, boasting another outstanding Iphigénie in Christine Goerke, will appeal to those who find Minkowski overly forceful. I'd hate to be without either. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the ultimate recording, May 13, 2001

By 

"nicngu" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gluck - Iphigénie en Tauride / Delunsch · Keenlyside · Beuron · Naouri · Cousin · Les Musiciens du Louvre · Minkowski (Audio CD)

Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre have done it again : there are few baroque ensembles who are able to bring so much life in a recording. Thanks to outstanding singing, playing and directing, this recording of Gluck's masterpiece (his best opera if you ask me !) is truly a theatre experience. This is much better than anything recorded before : the Muti/Scala Sony recording with Vaness was always a bit too "exotic", and the Boston Baroque for Pearlmann (with Goerke) are too boring for words. The Gardiner version (with modern instruments) on Philips was the only recommandable version so far, but Diana Montaigue is no match for Delunsch. What is more, the cast is outstanding. The soloists all have a perfect command of the language (Keenlyside, the only non-native speaker of the cast, included), and, what is more, a perfect understanding the verses they declaim : finally a recording that will not make French ears cringe. Naouri's bass, somewhat lacking in colour, might not be my favourite but is very suitable as the barbaric king Thoas. Beuron's Pylade is generous and moving. Keenlyside's portrayal of the tortured Oreste is breathtaking throughout : there is so much suffering in the voice. Delunsch, whom I found slightly distant in the concert hall, here just blows away any reservations I might have had : her Iphigénie is of classical grandeur and her singing superb... Listen to her big 2nd act aria with choir, the famous "O malheureuse Iphigénie..." and you will be sold ! If you are not moved, this is just not the work for you !

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptionnel, October 14, 2007

By 

Constantin Declercq "Constantin Declercq" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gluck - Iphigénie en Tauride / Delunsch · Keenlyside · Beuron · Naouri · Cousin · Les Musiciens du Louvre · Minkowski (Audio CD)

Cette version est la meilleure des versions officielles, et de très loin. Comme d'habitude Minkowski a le sens du théâtre et son orchestre accompagne parfaitement les sentiment exprimés que ce soit l'angoisse ou la méditation. Les chanteurs et les choeurs sont en symbiose parfaite avec cette vision de l'oeuvre, ce qui leur fait éviter le piège de la théâtralité froide. Mireille Delunsch est parfaite : elle compense ce qu'elle n'a pas en puissance (et que le rôle ne demande d'ailleurs pas) par une émotion et une intelligence du rôle rares. De toutes les chanteuses qui ont chanté Iphigénie elle est la plus émouvante et attachante. La clarté de son timbre et son phrasé participent à cette impression. «Ô malheureuse Iphigénie» en devient superbe de sensibilité et d'intensité. Les autres chanteurs sont aussi excellents.

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreakingly beautiful and powerful, September 17, 2006

By 

Steven Guy (Croydon, South Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gluck - Iphigénie en Tauride / Delunsch · Keenlyside · Beuron · Naouri · Cousin · Les Musiciens du Louvre · Minkowski (Audio CD)

Let's get a few things straight, alright?
Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck couldn't write counterpoint if his life depended upon it. Yes, Handel was right about that. Herr Gluck's orchestrations are imaginative and colourful, but he was hardly an idiomatic writer of music for the instruments he chose. One could easily imagine him banging out tunes on his harpsichord over a few glasses of wine with his wife, Marianne, after dinner.

Yet Gluck is a great composer.

Why?

Well, he wrote stuff like this. That's why. Why is Iphigénie en Tauride a masterpiece (I am sure it is)? Well, I think it is because of Gluck's sense of theatre and pace, word painting, harmony and melody. Gluck's music is simple and heartfelt music writ large and beautifully and effectively writ large. Gluck knew what he was doing even when he was simply covering up his weaknesses.

This recording of Iphigénie en Tauride is, in a simple word, perfect. I bought this recording and I am profoundly satisfied with it. I will buy other recordings and DVDs of this work, but I am confident that none will ever surpass this this recording.

Listen to "Ô malheureuse Iphigénie!" sung with incredible feeling and style by Mireille Delunsch and I am sure you will be sold. In this aria, constructed very simply, with off-the-beat strings and plaintive oboe solo, one can hear Iphigénie's misery upon learning of her family's death - she gets closer and closer to a nervous breakdown as the aria progresses.

Gluck wasn't a technically great composer, but he understood human psychology and how to make it manifest in his music.

Buy all of Minkowski's Gluck Paris operas, please.