Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle album cover

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle

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Bartók’s only opera is an intense drama, involving only two characters and underpinned by a rich orchestral score. Bluebeard’s young bride persuades him to open seven doors in his castle to let the light in. Behind each door she finds increasingly disturbing sights, until the final door opens to reveal the castle’s secret and her fate.

Composer Bartok
Conductor Valery Gergiev
Performer London Symphony Orchestra
Soloists Elena Zhidkova, Sir Willard White

1. Prologue and Introduction
2. First Door - Bluebeard's Torture Chamber
3. Second Door - the Armoury
4. Third Door - the Treasury
5. Fourth Door - the Garden
6. Fifth Door - Bluebeard's Vast and Beautiful Kingdom
7. Sixth Door - the Lake of Tears
8. Seventh Door - Bluebeard's Wives

Release date 27 July 2009

LSO0685 | 08222231168522

Booklet in English, French & German. 
Text in Hungarian with English translation

Producer James Mallinson
Engineers Classic Sound Ltd
Recorded January 2009 at the Barbican Hall, London

ALAC - 16bit 44.1kHz - Compatible with Apple devices (MacOS and iOS)
FLAC - 24bit 96kHz - Compatible with Windows and Android devices
MP3 - 320kbps - Universal compatibility

Available on streaming services

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Reviews

“

Gergiev’s Bluebeard passes beyond shattering into a realm even more deeply disturbing.

- Opera Magazine’s Disc of the Month
“

'Gergiev and his superlative forces and vocal soloists, supported by magnificent sound quality, present the enigmatic piece with great power.'

- BBC Music Magazine's Opera Choice of the Month
“

All the restless qualities of the underlying and shadowy string themes are sketched in an appropriately unsettling way. Vitally for this score, the woodwind figures add their eerie colours and decorative dissonance to great effect, the clarinet making a particularly telling contribution – wonderful playing...

- Classical Source