United Kingdom
Supraphon: SU39942
Martinu - Three Fragments from the Opera Juliette
Our Price: £11.95
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Opera
Artist(s): Magdalena Kozena (Juliette), Steve Davislim (Michel), Frederic Goncalves, Michele Lagrange, Nicolas Teste, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor(s): Sir Charles Mackerras
Release Date: 24th May 2009
More Details on Martinu - Three Fragments from the Opera Juliette
Bohuslav Martinů
Three Fragments from the Opera Juliette (The Key to Dreams) World premiere recording
Orchestral Suite from Juliette (arr. Z. Vostřák)
Live recording from the work’s world premieres on 11 and 12 December 2008
On 11 December 2008 the sold-out Rudolfinum in Prague heard for the first time Three Fragments from the Opera Juliette, a work which ranks among Martinů’s most significant and which the composer himself highly esteemed. Martinů originally composed the opera Juliette in Czech. However, so as to ensure appropriate publicity for the work, he wanted – already armed with a French libretto – to place extracts from the most relevant scenes on French radio. Yet Three Fragments from the Opera Juliette (The Key to Dreams) was not broadcast on the radio and had to wait some 70 years for its first performance. This was entrusted to the safe hands of that most competent of conductors Sir Charles Mackerras, who has devoted a great part of his life to discovering Czech music and promoting it on world stages.
After experiencing Magdalena Kožená in the role of Juliette, it is hard to imagine another star singer in her place.
On this CD, Three Fragments is supplemented by the orchestral suite from the same opera, which sensitively treats the music of all three Acts and corresponds with the “dreamy logic” of the original.
Thanks to Martinů’s dreamily beautiful music and the remarkable engagement of all the interpreters, Sir Charles' December leave-taking of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra was transformed into a joint triumph.
Three Fragments from the Opera Juliette (The Key to Dreams) World premiere recording
Orchestral Suite from Juliette (arr. Z. Vostřák)
Live recording from the work’s world premieres on 11 and 12 December 2008
On 11 December 2008 the sold-out Rudolfinum in Prague heard for the first time Three Fragments from the Opera Juliette, a work which ranks among Martinů’s most significant and which the composer himself highly esteemed. Martinů originally composed the opera Juliette in Czech. However, so as to ensure appropriate publicity for the work, he wanted – already armed with a French libretto – to place extracts from the most relevant scenes on French radio. Yet Three Fragments from the Opera Juliette (The Key to Dreams) was not broadcast on the radio and had to wait some 70 years for its first performance. This was entrusted to the safe hands of that most competent of conductors Sir Charles Mackerras, who has devoted a great part of his life to discovering Czech music and promoting it on world stages.
After experiencing Magdalena Kožená in the role of Juliette, it is hard to imagine another star singer in her place.
On this CD, Three Fragments is supplemented by the orchestral suite from the same opera, which sensitively treats the music of all three Acts and corresponds with the “dreamy logic” of the original.
Thanks to Martinů’s dreamily beautiful music and the remarkable engagement of all the interpreters, Sir Charles' December leave-taking of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra was transformed into a joint triumph.
