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I.Strawinsky, Persephone; P. Dukas, Ouverture Polyeucte

I.Strawinsky, Persephone; P. Dukas, Ouverture Polyeucte

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“Then came Stravinsky’s Persephone, which starts out in his coolest, Greek-vase mode but soon becomes ripely expressive. It was the most moving moment of the weekend.” (The Daily Telegraph, review of The Proms 2003) Stravinsky composed Perséphone to a text by André Gide in 1933-34 and revised it in 1949. It is the story of Persephone who, of her own free will, descends to the Underworld in compassion for the hapless Shades, to become Pluto's wife. Springtime accompanies her ascent back to terrestrial life and a second marriage – to Triptolemus, the first farmer. According to the cycle of the seasons, she will in due course return to the Underworld. David Schiff comments that Persephone “can be read as a type of Christ, sacrificing her own life to redeem human suffering, or as an image of the socially committed artist who moves between the realms of aesthetic delight and human misery. Stravinsky's music, full of religious awe and humanistic wisdom, mirrors both readings." (Boosey & Hawkes/Joseph Horowitz) “The title role is declaimed rather than sung, intensifying the heroine's isolation; here it was persuasively performed by Nicole Tibbels. The role of narrator is given to a solo tenor; Paul Groves was a good choice… Perséphone is about the constant renewal of nature, and we're not a million miles away from the world of The Rite of Spring; but whereas that work presents nature as an aggressive force cracking the world open, Perséphone shows a more wistful view of a quiet, unrelenting, cyclical process. And here, under Andrew Davis's steady baton, that is how it came across, the three parts of the story eliding seamlessly into each other, a feeling of unyielding flow and slow-burning momentum underpinning the whole score. In a work in which the choir is an almost constant presence, the BBC Symphony Chorus made an outstanding contribution.
Product details
Release Date:
2004-09-06
Publication Date:
2004-09-06
Publisher:
Warner Classics (Warner)
GPSR Manufacturer Reference:
[email protected]
Weight:
100 g
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