GLUCK, C.W.: Orfeo ed Euridice (Royal Opera House, 1991) (NTSC)

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 1991
Opera in three acts; Sung in Italian

Jochen Kowalski, Gillian Webster, Jeremy Budd,
The Royal Opera Chorus, The Orchestra of the
Royal Opera House, Hartmut Haenchen

Stage Production by Harry Kupfer
Design by Hans Schavernoch; Costumes by Eleonore Kleiber

Sound Format: PCM Stereo
Picture Format: 4:3
Region Code: 0
Menu Languages: D, F, GB, SP, JP
Subtitle Languages: I, D, F, GB, JP, SP
Running Time: 83 mins
DVD 9/ NTSC

Cat no.:100 417

Harry Kupfer's version of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, originally conceived for the Berlin Komische Oper and now in the repertory of The Royal Opera, won the Olivier Award for "Most Outstanding Achievement in Opera".

According to legend, Orpheus' magical power as a musician enabled him to regain his wife from the dead on condition that he did not look at her on the journey back from Hades - a condition it proved impossible to fulfil. In Harry Kupfer's updated version, Orfeo, in leather jacket, trainers and jeans, sees his Euridice die in a street accident. Succumbing to depression, he languishes in Hades - a psychiatric hospital - before taking his electric guitar to charm the beasts in an inner-city concrete jungle. Hans Schavernoch has designed an ingenious set with projected imagery on revolving screens and mirrors.

The German male alto, Jochen Kowalski, gives a virtuoso performance as the tormented Orfeo, with the young British soprano Gillian Webster as Euridice.

"German countertenor Jochen Kowalski has exactly the right kind of voice, and he conveys powerfully the varied emotions in this story of a titanic struggle between love and death. The supporting cast is small but well-chosen, with a boy soprano in the role of Amor and a Euridice, Gillian Webster, who is as good at acting as she is at singing. Hartmut Haenchen's conducting catches the spirit of Gluck's music." -- www.amazon.co.uk

"This film is a tremendous record of a stunning, if deeply disturbing, theatrical experience." -- Guy Richards, Gramophone, Aug 2002 on Harry Kupfer's production of Die Soldaten (Arthaus Musik 100 270)