Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex & Apollon musagète album cover

Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex & Apollon musagète

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Sir John Eliot Gardiner's first release for LSO Live, Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex and Apollon musagète. Also featured on the release are the Gentlemen of the Monteverdi Choir, considered one of the world’s leading choirs, and a mix of international and home-grown soloists including Jennifer Johnston and Stuart Skelton. French actress Fanny Ardant, who has appeared in over 50 motion pictures, takes the role of narrator.

Oedipus Rex and Apollon musagète are both ancient Greek themed works by Stravinsky. The rich string harmonies and textures in the ballet score of Apollon musagète are pleasantly mesmerizing, expressive and calmly indulgent. In contrast, the dramatic and hauntingly compelling opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex is composed of an assemblage of monumental and powerful sounds, such as playful woodwinds, robust brass and agile strings, with magnificent vocals from the choir and soloists.

Composer Stravinsky
Conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Performers Monteverdi Choir, London Symphony Orchestra
Soloists Jennifer Johnston, Stuart Skelton, Gidon Saks, Fanny Ardant, David Shipley, Gareth Treseder, Alexander Ashworth

Oedipus Rex
1. Prologue and Act I: “Spectateurs, vous allez entendre...”
2. Act I: “Voici Creon, beau-frere d’Oedipe...”
3. Act I: “Oedipe interroge la fontaine de verite...”
4. Act II: “Gloria, gloria, gloria!”
5. Act II: “Le temoin du meurtre sort de l’ombre...”
6. Act II: “Et maintenant, vous allez entendre...”

Apollon musagète
7. I. Premier Tableau, Naissance d’Apollon
8. II. Second Tableau, Variation d’Apollon
9. III. Pas d’action
10. IV. Variation de Calliope
11. V. Variation de Polymnie
12. VI. Variation de Terpsichore
13. VII. Variation d’Apollon
14. VIII. Pas de deux
15. IX. Coda
16. X. Apothéose

Release date 7 April 2014
LSO0751 | 822231175124

Producer Nicholas Parker
Engineers Classic Sound Ltd
Recorded live at the Barbican, 25 April and 1 May 2013

High-definition audio recording
Notes in English / en français / auf Deutsch
Oedipus Rex libretto in Latin with French narration
English translations

FLAC - 24bit 96kHz - Compatible with Windows and Android devices
MP3 - 320kbps - Universal compatibility
SACD - Compatible with all CD players

Available on streaming services

Reviews

“

Critic’s Choice ‘An unusual approach to Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex comes with the declamation most eloquently delivered by the French film star Fanny Ardant; but it works well, in a performance more expressive than usual for this work by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, coupled with a graceful, dance-suffused Apollon Musagète.’

- Gramophone Magazine
“

**** 'If Oedipus Rex reveals the spectacular side of the LSO, then the orchestra's strings show finesse in Apollon Musagète.'

- The New Zealand Herald
“

'It makes sense that the conductor John Eliot Gardiner, a pioneer of the early music movement, and the impressive Monteverdi Choir, founded by Mr Gardiner in 1964, would have a special feeling for the old-world musical elements of Oedipus Rex, all of which come through on this gripping recording taken from live performances with the London Symphony Orchestra last year.'

- The New York Times