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Debussy: Edgar Allan Poe Operas

William Dazeley (Roderick Usher), Eugene Villanueva (Roderick's friend), Virgil Hartinger (doctor) & Lin Lin Fan (Lady Madeline), Eugene Villanueva (Le Bourgmestre), Lin Lin Fan (Jeannette), Michael Dries (Le Haut-sonneur) & Virgil Hartinger (Jean)

Göttinger Symphonie Orchester, Christoph-Mathias...

The Gottinger Symphonie Orchester play with passion under Christoph-Matthias Mueller, while William Dazeley as Roderic Usher and Eugene Villanueva as his friend are convincing advocates in this... — BBC Music Magazine, October 2016, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 10th Jun 2016
Catalogue No: PC10342
Label: Pan Classics
Length: 88 minutes

This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched.

Debussy: La chûte de la maison Usher, L. 112 (Completed & Orchestrated by R. Orledge)

Work length1:14

$1.00

$1.30

Gottingen Symphony Orchestra
Christoph-Mathias Mueller
Recorded: 10-11 December 2013
Recording Venue: Live recording, Stadthalle, Göttingen, Germany

Prélude

Track length1:14

$1.00

$1.30

La chûte de la maison Usher, L. 112, Scène 1 (Completed & Orchestrated by R. Orledge)

Work length10:03

$5.00

$6.50

Lin Lin Fan (soprano), Virgil Hartinger (tenor), Eugene Villanueva (baritone)
Recorded: 10-11 December 2013
Recording Venue: Live recording, Stadthalle, Göttingen, Germany

Scene 1: Dans la plus verte… (Lady Madeline)

Track length2:49

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 1: Qui êtes-vous?… (Le Médecin, L'ami)

Track length1:56

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 1: Cet homme est le dernier… (Le Médecin, L'ami)

Track length1:50

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 1: Et sa soeur… (L'ami, Le Médecin)

Track length2:52

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 1: Ah! Pourquoi ne veut elle pas… (Le Médecin, L'ami)

Track length0:36

$1.00

$1.30

La chûte de la maison Usher, L. 112, Scène 2 (Completed & Orchestrated by R. Orledge)

Work length40:26

$16.00

$20.80

William Dazeley (baritone)
Recorded: 10-11 December 2013
Recording Venue: Live recording, Stadthalle, Göttingen, Germany

Scene 2: Madeline… (Roderick)

Track length2:37

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 2: Vieilles pierres… (Roderick)

Track length3:31

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 2: Ah! J'ai soif de vivre… (Roderick)

Track length2:34

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 2: Serait-ce toi… (Roderick)

Track length2:46

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 2: Ne vous effrayez pas… (Le Médecin, L'ami, Roderick)

Track length1:44

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 2: Des flambeaux… (Roderick, L'ami)

Track length3:19

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 2: Voyons, Roderick… (L'ami, Roderick)

Track length2:14

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 2: Les vieilles pierres étincelaient… (Roderick, L'ami)

Track length4:13

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 2: Roderick! Roderick!… (L'ami, Roderick, Le Médecin)

Track length5:05

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 2: Laissez-moi vous donner un conseil (Le Médecin, L'ami)

Track length1:39

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 2: Dans la plus verte de nos vallées… (Roderick, L'ami)

Track length2:42

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 2: Je sais qu'elle est trop frêle… (Roderick, L'ami)

Track length1:17

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 2: Tenez, j'ai trouvé cet antique… (Roderick, L'ami)

Track length2:02

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 2: Mais craignant la tempête… (L'ami, Roderick)

Track length1:35

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 2: Vous n'entendez pas?… (Roderick)

Track length1:21

$1.00

$1.30

Scene 2: La voyez-vous?… (Roderick)

Track length1:47

$1.00

$1.30

Debussy: Le diable dans le beffroi, L. 101 (Completed & Orchestrated by R. Orledge)

Work length0:41

$1.00

$1.30

Gottingen Symphony Orchestra
Christoph-Mathias Mueller
Recorded: 10-11 December 2013
Recording Venue: Live recording, Stadthalle, Göttingen, Germany

Prélude

Track length0:41

$1.00

$1.30

Le diable dans le beffroi, L. 101, Tableau 1 (Completed & Orchestrated by R. Orledge)

Work length20:36

$12.00

$15.60

Eugene Villanueva (baritone), Lin Lin Fan (soprano), Michael Dries (baritone), Virgil Hartinger (tenor), Natalie Kundirenko (violin)
Kammerchor St. Jacobi Göttingen
Recorded: 10-11 December 2013
Recording Venue: Live recording, Stadthalle, Göttingen, Germany

Tableau 1: Ahem!… (Bourgmestre)

Track length1:19

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 1: Savez-vous planter… (Children's Chorus)

Track length1:17

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 1: Valse des tulipes

Track length0:51

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 1: Polka

Track length1:09

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 1: Ah, Jeannette… (Bourgmestre, Jeannette)

Track length1:11

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 1: Bonjour, monsieur le haut-sonneur… (Bourgmestre, Haute-sonneur)

Track length1:53

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 1: C'est la grande tradition… (Bourgmestre, Haute-sonneur)

Track length1:31

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 1: Bonjour Jeannette… (Jean, Jeannette)

Track length3:26

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 1: Allez, il faut nous préparer… (Haut-sonneur, Jean)

Track length2:41

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 1: Un… deux… trois… (Chorus)

Track length1:01

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 1: Le Diable! C'est le Diable!… (Haut-sonneur, Bourgmestre, Jean)

Track length2:19

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 1: Le Diable mime

Track length1:58

$1.00

$1.30

Le diable dans le beffroi, L. 101, Tableau 2 (Completed & Orchestrated by R. Orledge)

Work length15:26

$9.00

$11.70

Recorded: 10-11 December 2013
Recording Venue: Live recording, Stadthalle, Göttingen, Germany

Tableau 2: Interlude

Track length2:16

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 2: Tarantelle

Track length1:01

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 2: Ma tête tourne… (Chorus, Haute-sonneur)

Track length1:36

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 2: La, la, la, la… (Jeannette, Jean)

Track length1:52

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 2: Holà! Holà! Holà!… (Chorus, Bourgmestre)

Track length1:37

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 2: Holà! Holà! Holà!… (Chorus, Jean, Bourgmestre)

Track length2:07

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 2: Mon Dieu, sauve-nous… (Jean)

Track length1:55

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 2: Un… deux… trois… (Chorus)

Track length0:39

$1.00

$1.30

Tableau 2: Savez-vous planter… (Children's Chorus)

Track length2:23

$1.00

$1.30

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About

Claude Debussy's opera 'Pelléas et Mélisande' premièred in 1902 and is regarded as a very special masterpiece, albeit a solitary one. The composer’s relationship with opera however was not as distanced as one could suppose from focusing on this single work which is in fact not an isolated component within the artist’s oeuvre.

Plans existed for further operatic projects and Debussy devoted himself intensely to two operas based on texts by Edgar Allan Poe during the last few years of his life which were dominated by ill health. He continued working on 'The Fall of the House of Usher' until shortly before his death and was distraught at not being able to complete this composition. 'The Devil in the Belfry' has only survived in sketch form. The English musicologist Robert Orledge, a renowned expert within the field of French music, reconstructed both operas with great sensitivity to Debussy’s compositional style, augmenting missing passages.

Debussy had promised the New York Metropolitan Opera the premiere of the Poe operas, apparently still believing that he would still complete them both. The composer received contractual confirmation that both works would only be performed consecutively on the same evening, meaning that the gloomy melancholy of one work would serve as a counterweight to the mocking humour of the other. This production featuring the Göttinger Symphonie Orchester is therefore a world première: according to Debussy’s wishes, the two operas would have been performed at the New York Metropolitan Opera in this exact juxtaposition.

Artists

Göttinger Symphonie Orchester, Christoph-Mathias Mueller

Reviews

October 2016

The Gottinger Symphonie Orchester play with passion under Christoph-Matthias Mueller, while William Dazeley as Roderic Usher and Eugene Villanueva as his friend are convincing advocates in this gripping piece of drama that should be heard by any Debussy enthusiast.

CD Review 20/08/16

Debussy could not get a better outing … fascinating; flawed but very interesting … our Debussy completion is now a little bit more complete.

September 2016

Orledge’s completion [of Usher] is unquestionably superb…Orledge steers us into febrile territory closer to that of Jeux and Le martyre de Saint Sébastien. Your flesh crawls at the outset as oboe and trumpet meander under squeaky violin harmonics, and the tension never relaxes for a second during the work’s 50 minute span

For aficionados of Debussy's music this is a rare and important set … Pan Classics have produced a well-performed and attractively presented set, which Debussy specialists will want to hear ... Performances are good and often better than that.

December 2016

these skilfully performed live accounts feel entirely secure under the baton of Christoph-Mathias Mueller, giving a good idea of both the merits and limitations of the two pieces in the form presented.

8th June 2016

Orledge had Debussy’s themes and outline to work with [in The Devil in the Belfry], effectively he had to compose the music from scratch...His work is an expert piece of inventive scholarship, and its quality comes across in this performance...Alongside it, though, The Fall of the House of Usher, with William Dazeley magnificently intense in the central role of Roderick, is more convincing, musically and dramatically.

Classical Ear 9th September 2016

Robert Orledge’s carefully studied reconstructions are brief but entirely convincing, and their orchestration is outstanding in sound...these performances are elegant and intelligent, with excellent orchestral sound, and beautifully sung throughout

Debussy: Edgar Allan Poe Operas

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