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Saint-Saëns: Hélène | Nuit Persane SACD Hybrid Multi-channel
(2 CD set) Illing | Davislim | McKendree-Wright | KenneallyOrchestra Victoria | Guillaume Tourniaire | Price:
AU$45.00
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"The Trojan tragedy with great tunes: Dame Nellie's hit is superbly restored... Tourniaire is a sympathetic conductor... Rosamund Illing... her bright clear voice is apt... The star performance comes from tenor Steve Davislim... With excellent sound... this is a most valuable issue." Gramophone (UK) "All credit to the highly enterprising Australian label Melba for following up their excellent SACD Ring with such a rarity. No expense spared, either, with superior presentation, excellent notes, and a first-rate cast..." BBC Music Magazine (UK) After more than a century of neglect, Saint-Saëns’ re-telling of the legend of Helen of Troy has been restored to the repertoire by Melba Recordings in this world-premiere recording of the work. Saint-Saëns wrote Hélène for Melba Recordings label’s namesake, Dame Nellie Melba, who sang the title role in its first performance in Monte Carlo in 1904. After performances in London, Milan and Paris, the work fell into obscurity (as did the majority of Saint-Saëns’ 14 operas), until Melba Recordings’ founder Maria Vandamme rediscovered the piece and committed to returning it to the catalogue. Last October brilliant young French conductor Guillaume Tourniaire conducted a cast led by tenor Steve Davislim and soprano Rosamund Illing as the star-struck lovers Paris and Helen, and Orchestra Victoria to make the historic first recording of Saint-Saëns’ work. This triumphant new recording of Hélène reveals the one-act work described by its composer as a poème lyrique to be fully deserving of the description of ‘masterpiece’. Written in frustrated response to La belle Hélène, Offenbach’s tongue-in-cheek take on the story of “the face that launched a thousand ships”, Saint-Saëns depicts one of history’s greatest love affairs in music that is characterised by soaring lyricism and shot through with sumptuous melodies wholly befitting the epic and dramatic romance it describes. The recording of Hélène is coupled with another world premiere recording, the orchestral version of Saint-Saëns’ hypnotic cycle for narrator, tenor, alto, chorus and orchestra of Armand Renaud’s Nuit Persane. More usually known in the version for piano accompaniment, this memorable new account showcases the thrilling voices of Steve Davislim and Zan McKendree-Wright, and the conducting genius of Guillaume Tourniaire leading Orchestra Victoria to spellbinding effect. This compelling new release from Melba Recordings follows the label’s praised recording of Wagner’s Ring Cycle – the first-ever in Super Audio surround sound, acclaimed by Gramophone magazine as “the best sounding Ring to date, bar none” – and further cements its reputation for innovation and high quality. Biographical Links Conductor Cast List
Download the German Libretto of Hélène (PDF) Download the German text of Nuit Persane (PDF) Track listing
Additional essays Read Yves Gérard's essays on Hélène and Nuit Persane Gala Concert in Prague Read about the opera's modern premiere at the Prague State Opera in February 2008, plus reviews of the performance. Watch a Melba YouTube video on Hélène Featuring an interview with conductor, Guillaume Tourniaire. |
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