Birtwistle: Punch and Judy |
This page lists all recordings of Punch and Judy, by Harrison Birtwistle (b.1934) on CD. Generally, more recent CDs are listed first, but with priority given to items that are in stock. |
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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | A tragical comedy or a comical tragedy
Stephen Roberts, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Jan DeGaetani, Philip Langridge, David Wilson- Johnson & John Tomlinson London Sinfonietta, David Atherton Punch and Judy elaborates the traditional puppet-play into an opera of stylised violence and
ritual. While the simplicity of the children’s entertainment is retained in the opera by the
characters—familiar and puppet-like—by the invented ‘nursery-rhymes’ of the libretto, and by the
waltzes, lullabies and serenades of the music, the tragi-comic actions of a homicidal puppet are
raised almost to the status of myth as Punch murders Judy over and over again. “This brilliantly sung and played account has a gripping luridness that makes it hard to imagine how the work—a 1960s expressionist masterpiece—could be done differently, never mind better. Setting a libretto of manic intellectuality by Stephen Pruslin, the
opera moves with an implacable, raucous energy that is unique” Sunday Times “As a whole the opera loses none of its powerful and sustained impact when compared with Birtwistle’s own more mature compositions. If anything, its startling primitivisms stand out more vividly, while its not inconsiderable moments of reflection and lyricism acquire an enhanced poignancy. The performance (a 1980 Gramophone Award winner) gains immeasurably from the alert control of David Atherton and the superlative musicianship of the London Sinfonietta.” Gramophone Magazine | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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