Strauss Elektra Aix en ProvencePatrice Chereau [2014] Digibook

Description: Home About Us Postage & Payment Returns Contact Add The Pom Shop to your Favorites and receive our email newsletters about new items and special promotions. General Interest Strauss: Elektra (Aix en Provence/Patrice Chereau) [2014] Digibook The last production ever staged by Patrice Chreau, this 'Elektra' will remain as the most striking events of recent years in Aix-en-Provence. 'This production, with Esa-Pekka Salonen on the podium, the Orchestre de Paris in the pit, an all-star cast and Patrice Chreau directing, has been hyped so hard that it would be gratifying to be able to enumerate its imperfections. But there are none. Chreau, Salonen and their cast get everything so appallingly right... Chreau takes Hofmannsthal s chilling libretto to the letter, in the most minutely exacting manner, and Salonen does the same with the score, conducting with all the dispassionate clarity of the gore in a Tarantino film. If it were merely gore, it would be bad enough. Far worse, though, both men see every moment of tenderness in text and score in perfect detail. These murderous family members are not monsters. They are real people, filled with love and yearning, damaged beyond repair. Evelyn Herlitzius lives and breathes the mammoth title role. She is a wild animal, a dirt-smeared urchin in oversized men s clothes, her wiry body barely containing the huge, disturbing emotions of her matricidal character. Her jerky, broken dance is one of this production s many unforgettable moments. The opening night audience leapt to its feet to applaud her. As her far more feminine sister, Adrianne Pieczonka is a revelation, with a lavishly creamy voice capable of expressing all the emotions that Elektra forbids herself. Waltraud Meier s Klytmnestra is so dignified as to be almost harmless, a frail figure whose subsequent slaughter seems out of proportion to her errors. The men are strong, led by Mikhail Petrenko as an unnervingly compassionate Orest. Richard Peduzzi s sets and Caroline de Vivaise s costumes set the action somewhere that could be the vestiges of any modern conflict, from the Balkans to Afghanistan, a grey, comfortless world of concrete, fear and oppression. Under Salonen s merciless direction, the Orchestre de Paris gives the lie to preconceptions about French orchestras and German romanticism, with playing that is transparent, brawny and seductive all at once. The whole is so horribly compelling that it is hard to remember to breathe, and even harder not to join Elektra in eager passion for the closing bloodbath. Chreau does not even bother with blood in the end, Orest strangles his mother. It is vile, and utterly wonderful. This production goes on to La Scala, Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Finnish National Opera, the Liceu in Barcelona and the Staatsoper Berlin. It has all the strengths of Chreau s legendary staging of Jancek s 'From the House of the Dead'. Its shelf life will be long, and it will be talked about for even longer. A triumph for Aix.' *****Shirley Apthorp 133 min. (opera 110 min. & bonus 23 min) Bonus: interview with Patrice Chreau Image: 16/9, NTSC, Sound: PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Review **** 'Strauss s music ... splatters the colours, some tender, some vile, all delineated with exemplary finesse by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Orchestre de Paris ... Precise in pitch, unfailingly intense and charismatic, the German soprano Evelyn Herlitzius conquers every challenge thrown by Strauss and his librettist, Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Watch for her mad victory dance at the end: unnerving and unforgettable ... Chreau wasn t smiling for nothing.' --Geoff Brown, The Times 30 May 2014 Evelyn Herlitzius is exceptional in the title role, delivering top notes that are searing and incisive, while Adrianne Pieczonka gives a riveting performance as Chrysothemis...Strauss's compelling score is given a wonderfully lyrical reading by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Orchestre de Paris. **** --Opera Now Herlitzius s vocal stamina is striking. Her voice is full and strong, rings out powerfully and even cuts through the loud orchestra ... Pieczonka is splendidly focused of voice, cutting through the orchestral sound with a genuine shine on the tone ... Salonen energises the orchestra ... a winning one performance altogether. --John T. Hughes International Record Review, October 2014 Shipping Shipping is free for all customers in Australia. Your package will be safely taken care of & posted from England by means of Priority Airmail, which is air freighted to your nearest Australia Post Distribution Center (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, or Perth), from where they are delivered to your address by Australia Post. Returns and refunds We operate a 30 day money back guarantee. If you are unhappy with the product for whatever reason, please contact us to arrange a return and refund. As shipping costs are not retrievable, we are unable to refund shipping costs. Feedback We use an automated eBay feedback response system. If you are happy with the product, please leave positive feedback and we will automatically leave positive feedback for you. If you are unhappy with the transaction for any reason, please contact us first to resolve. If you do leave negative or neutral feedback you waive your rights for support regarding any problems with us and open yourself up for possible retaliatory negative feedback. Please avoid making negative feedback remarks, contact us first if you have any problems! We are here to help! Contact Us Please contact us via eBay messages if you have any questions and our Customer Service team will be happy to assist you with any queries. Thank you. Home About Us Postage & Payment Returns Contact Copyright © 2017 - 2024 The Pom Shop. All rights reserved.

Price: 81.65 AUD

Location: Priority Airmail from England

End Time: 2024-12-15T14:26:14.000Z

Shipping Cost: 9.74 AUD