recordings
Orphée
An Opera by Philip Glass after Jean Cocteau
2010

Catalog

UPC 801837006827
Orange Mountain Music 0068

Cast

Anne Manson – Portland Opera

Orphée Philip Cutlipsym
La Princesse – Lisa Saffer
Heurtebise – Ryan MacPherson
Eurydice – Georgia Jarman
Cégeste – Steven Brennfleck
Poet – G. Beruan
Judge – Konstantin Kvach
Le Commissaire – Ron Brallier
Aglaonice – Daryl Freedman
Reporter – Carl Halvorson
Policeman – José Rubio
Glazier – Marc Acito
Radio Announcer – Mikhail Hallak

Tracks

CD1 – ACT I

1. Scene 1 – le Café (The Café) 6:07
2. Scene 2 – la Route (The Road) 2:43
3. Scene 3 – le Chalet (The Chalet) 8:28
4. Scene 4 – Chez Orphée (Orphée’s House) 10:17
5. Scene 5 – la Chambre d’Orphée (Orphée’s Bedroom) 1:46
6. Scene 6 – le Studio d’Orphée (Orphée’s Studio) 5:41
7. Scene 7 – le Bureau du Commissaire (Commissioner’s Office) 2:56
8. Scene 8 – la Poursuite (The Chase) 1:58
9. Scene 9 – Chez Orphée (Orphée’s House) 14:38

CD2 – ACT II

1. Scene 1 – le Voyage aux Enfers (Journey to the Underworld) 3:13
2. Scene 2 – le Procès (The Trial) 9:09
3. Scene 3 – Orphée et la Princesse (Orphée and the Princess) 4:49
4. Scene 4 – le Verdict (The Verdict) 3:10
5. Scene 5 – Interlude Musicale – le Retour chez Orphée (Musical Interlude – Return to Orphée’s House) 1:41
6. Scene 6 – Chez Orphée (Orphée’s House) 6:46
7. Scene 7 – le Studio d’Orphée (Orphée’s Studio) 5:09
8. Scene 8 – le Retour d’Orphée (Orphée’s Return) 8:27
9. Scene 9 – la Chambre d’Orphée (Orphée’s Bedroom) 4:54

Notes

Orange Mountain Music presents the world premiere recording of Philip Glass’ opera Orphée performed by a renowned cast of soloists including Philip Cutlip as Orphée, Lisa Saffer as la Princesse, and the Portland Opera Orchestra conducted by Anne Manson.

Orphée (1993) was the first of a trilogy of operas that Glass composed on subjects by Jean Cocteau including also La Belle et la Bête (1994) and Les Enfants Terribles (1996). Orphée is the last to the trilogy to be recorded, and received fine treatment here with a Michael Riesman produced recording made from a series of live performances that took place in November 2009. This two-disc set includes the a deluxe digipack, full libretto in French and English, color production photos and cast and performer biographies. Based on Cocteau’s fascinating retelling of the Orpheus myth, Orphée, the first opera of Philip Glass’ Cocteau Trilogy, is an extended parable on the life of an artist, a poet harassed and misunderstood by peers. His success leads to the ridicule by fellow poets, ending in a creatively crippling isolation. With a renewed apprehension of his own mortality, Orphee regains his emotional strength, enabling him to ignore the trials of ordinary life, freeing him to be a poet. The poets Orphée and Cégeste, Euridice, and a mysterious Princess interact within the worlds of the living and the dead, existing in that mysterious realm that separates the two worlds. Love triumphs and thus returns Orphée and Euridice to mortal life, with no remaining consciousness of their unusual time spent between “the worlds”. The Princess has violated the laws of life and death one time too many and is banished into oblivion.

Release July 20, 2010

Credits

Orphée premiered at the American Repertory Theater, Cambridge MA May 14, 1993 and was recorded at the Portland Opera performances in November 2009. Costumes and scenery were originally created for Glimmerglass Opera

Edited by Michael Riesman and Anne Manson

Mixed and Mastered by Michael Riesman

Engineered by Billy Oskay at Big Red Studios

Photography: Cory Weaver, Portland opera

CD Booklet Design: Lissi Sigillo
Package and Digipack design: Don Christensen

Produced by Michael Riesman, Don Christensen, and Richard Guérin
Executive Producers for Orange Mountain Music: Philip Glass, Kurt Munkacsi, and Don Christensen

Itaipú and three Songs are published by Dunvagen Music Publishers, Inc. (ASCAP).

Philip Glass’ Music is published by Dunvagen Music Publishers
℗ and © 2010 by Orange Mountain Music.

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