FREE UK SHIPPING OVER £35!

Thomas Ades - The Tempest | EMI 6952342

Thomas Ades - The Tempest

New Item

Label: EMI

Cat No: 6952342

Barcode: 5099969523427

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 2

Genre: Opera

Release Date: 13th June 2009

This product has now been deleted. Information is for reference only.

Gramophone Award Winner Gramophone Editor's Choice

Contents

Artists

Simon Keenlyside
Kate Royal
Toby Spence
Ian Bostridge
Cyndia Sieden
Philip Langridge
Donald Kaasch
Jonathan Summers
David Condier
Stephen Richardson
Graeme Danby
The Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden

Conductor

Thomas Ades

Works

Ades, Thomas

The Tempest

Artists

Simon Keenlyside
Kate Royal
Toby Spence
Ian Bostridge
Cyndia Sieden
Philip Langridge
Donald Kaasch
Jonathan Summers
David Condier
Stephen Richardson
Graeme Danby
The Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden

Conductor

Thomas Ades

About

“Adès has provided Covent Garden and British opera in general with one of its great moments. The cheering from every corner of the theatre on Tuesday - orchestra pit included - felt like what it was: British opera’s equivalent of the England World Cup rugby win.” - The Guardian

When Thomas Adès conducted his opera The Tempest at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 2007, EMI Classics microphones were on hand to record this “masterpiece of airy beauty and eerie power.” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker). The cast included Simon Keenlyside, Cynthia Sieden, Ian Bostridge, Toby Spence, Kate Royal, Philip Langridge, and Stephen Richardson, many of whom took part in the critically acclaimed world premiere three years earlier.

Edward Seckerson of The Independent wrote, “In the three years since its premiere, Thomas Adès and Meredith Oakes's haunting re-imagining of Shakespeare's The Tempest has marinated in the mind. It now has the bearing of a modern classic. With a second, or in my case, third visit, you really start to appreciate the ingenious way in which Oakes alludes to Shakespeare without necessarily quoting him. Then there is Adès's instinctive feeling for the pulse of the drama, his unerring sense of the magic that may provide the key to ‘a brave new world’ where the sins of the parents might not be revisited on the children.” Rupert Christiansen of The Daily Telegraph said, “it's hard to imagine a better case for the piece than the one made by this performance. Authoritatively conducted by the composer … it was blessed with a magnificent cast.”

The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, commissioned Thomas Adès to compose a new opera in the late 1990s, following the success of Powder Her Face. The opera became a co-production with the Copenhagen Opera House and Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg. The Tempest received its world premiere at the Royal Opera House in February 2004. Productions in Strasbourg and Copenhagen followed in 2005 and the work was performed at Santa Fe Opera in the summer of 2006.

The libretto by Meredith Oakes is based on Shakespeare’s play of the same name. Rather than transfer Shakespeare's words directly, Oakes has reduced much of the text to its essence, and produced a compact libretto with the bulk of the text presented in the form of rhyming couplets. In the words of Alex Ross, “Adès wisely assigned the libretto to Meredith Oakes, a seasoned playwright who had the guts to rewrite Shakespeare … Veterans of contemporary premières will be relieved to find that for once a librettist and a composer have taken charge of a sacred text and made it their own. This libretto is designed to be sung.”

In the opera, Prospero (Simon Keenleyside), the rightful Duke of Milan, has magical powers and lives on an island with his daughter Miranda (Kate Royal), a half human, Caliban (Ian Bostridge), and the spirit, Ariel (Cynthia Sieden), who carries out Prospero’s wishes. Through Ariel, Prospero causes a violent storm (a tempest) to wreck the ship of King Alonso of Naples (Philip Langridge), which is also carrying his son Ferdinand (Toby Spence), Prospero’s brother Antonio (Donald Kaasch) and their courts. Prospero then ensures, via Ariel, that the passengers are saved and washed ashore onto Prospero’s island. Ferdinand and Miranda fall in love and there are a host of other adventures and plots before Prospero reveals himself to the visitors, makes his peace with Alonso, forgives his brother and grants Ariel her freedom.

Press Reviews:

“there are moments in all three acts which are by any standards sheerly, heartstoppingly beautiful; passages in which the music seems to be mined from an unfathomable depth of feeling …” - Andrew Clements, The Guardian

“It’s probably the first new opera I’ve experienced in 20 years that left me feeling not just intellectually aroused but deeply moved … writ large with a heartfelt cinematic schmaltz, each Act developing from slow-start, conversational routines into near-Straussian romantic beauty… Not only is the writing beautiful; it’s largely clear and clean – with simple melodies that bleed into the following material, binding whole scenes into coherence, and with a surprising amount of orchestral writing in rhythmic unison with the voices. … A coming-of-age piece. And, yes, momentous.” - Michael White, The Independent

“Adès does not shirk the traditional big operatic moments. There is a thrilling and moving quintet of reconciliation and he gives each of his main characters an imposing and impressive aria…these are expressed in music of extraordinary imaginative power.” - Michael Kennedy, The Sunday Telegraph

"The evening deservedly belongs to Adès, who himself conducts a score as orchestrally lush and evocative as vocally varied and articulate. The cumulative effect is by turns ethereal, witty, incandescent, often ravishing". - The Guardian 2004

“(Adès’s The Tempest) has the potential to be one of the most enduring new operas of the decade. (…) If you need proof that the hype surrounding Adès is more than just hope and expectation, you will find it here” - The Guardian on the Royal Opera House revival in March 07.

Error on this page? Let us know here

Need more information on this product? Click here