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Gluck: Orfeo Ed Euridice / Gardiner, McNair, Ragin, Sieden


Release Date: 03/13/2012 
Label:  Decca   Catalog #: 001651602   Spars Code: DDD 
Composer:  Christoph W. Gluck
Performer:  Derek Lee Ragin,  Sylvia McNair,  Cyndia Sieden
Conductor:  John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:  English Baroque Soloists,  Monteverdi Choir
Number of Discs: 2 
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Notes and Editorial Reviews

"...Gardiner's account of the Vienna Orfeo ed Euridice is peerless. One soon loses all sense of its being a period-instrument performance at all, so profound, at times overwhelming is its impact - so utterly right. In detail after detail - hauntingly poetic offstage instrumental complement, perfectly positioned in the drama (and perfectly captured by the excellent Philips recording); superbly stirring brass playing, which makes every entry a dramatic event; choral singing extraordinarily light in weight yet rich in emotional substance; exquisitely refined dance movements - and in sustainment of a delicately tenebrous, uniquely Gluckian atmosphere throughout, Gardiner's command of an opera championed since his first London concert Read more performance, 21 years ago, is revealed as simply larger and fuller than almost anyone else's. The set was studio-made after many concerthall performances by exactly the same forces, and in recording terms it achieves the best of all worlds -the vitality of a live event married to the precision of a recording.

-- Gramophone [9/1997]
Reviewing original release of this recording
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Works on This Recording

1. Orfeo ed Euridice by Christoph W. Gluck
Performer:  Derek Lee Ragin (Countertenor), Sylvia McNair (Soprano), Cyndia Sieden (Soprano)
Conductor:  John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:  English Baroque Soloists,  Monteverdi Choir
Period: Classical 
Written: 1762/1774; Vienna, Austria 

Sound Samples

Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Vienna version (1762): Overtura
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 1: "Ah, se intorno a quest'urna funesta"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 1: "Basta, basta, o compagni!"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Vienna version (1762) - Act 1: Ballo (Larghetto)
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 1: "Ah, se intorno a quest'urna funesta"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 1: "Chiamo il mio ben così"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 1: "T'assiste Amore!"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 1: "Gli sguardi trattieni"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 1: "Che disse? che ascoltai?"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 2: Ballo (Maestoso) - Coro: "Chi mai dell'Erebo"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 2: "Deh! placatevi con me"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 2: "Misero giovane"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Vienna version (1762) - Act 2: Ballo (Andante)
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 2: "Che puro ciel, che chiaro sol"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 2: "Vieni a' regni del riposo"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Vienna version (1762) - Act 2: Ballo (Andante)
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 2: "Anime avventurose"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 3: "Vieni, segui i miei passi"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 3: "Vieni, appaga il tuo consorte!"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 3: "Qual vita è questa mai"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 3: "Che fiero momento"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 3: "Ecco un nuovo tormento"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 3: "Che farò senza Euridice?"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 3: "A finisca e per sempre"
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Vienna version (1762) - Act 3: Maestoso - Ballo: 1. (Grazioso) 2. Allegro 3. Andante 4. Allegro
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice) - Sung in Italian/Vienna version (1762) - Act 3: "Trionfi Amore!"

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