Phaedra

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
This 1974 masterpiece from Christopher Franke, Edgar Froese, and Peter Baumann ebbs and flows with richly dark soundscapes of electronic sounds and synth. Phaedra was a progenitor for much ambient--and some dance--music, influencing such artists as Steve Roach. After listening to Phaedra it's easy to understand why. The signature pulsing of thick, beautiful Tangerine Dream synth falls across the ambient treasures here, pulling along the orchestral dreamscape before oozing aside for thick washes of expansive sound. The now-classic title cut is both soothing and ghostly, throbbing with subtle sequences and twisted metallic calls before diving into a swamp of nightmarish whistles and hoots. "Mysterious Semblance" soars and swoops like a lovely electronic eagle, bringing tripped-out light and cosmic dignity to the collection. This and the follow-up Rubycon are juicy pieces to the Tangerine Dream pie. --Karen Karleski

Phaedra,Tangerine Dream,Virgin Records,Art-Rock/Experimental,Electronic,Germany,New Age / Meditation,Pop,Popular Music,Prog-Rock/Art Rock,Synthesizer

Phaedra

Tracks:

Phaedra
Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares
Movements of a Visionary
Sequent C'

Amazon.com essential recording

This 1974 masterpiece from Christopher Franke, Edgar Froese, and Peter Baumann ebbs and flows with richly dark soundscapes of electronic sounds and synth. Phaedra was a progenitor for much ambient--and some dance--music, influencing such artists as Steve Roach. After listening to Phaedra it's easy to understand why. The signature pulsing of thick, beautiful Tangerine Dream synth falls across the ambient treasures here, pulling along the orchestral dreamscape before oozing aside for thick washes of expansive sound. The now-classic title cut is both soothing and ghostly, throbbing with subtle sequences and twisted metallic calls before diving into a swamp of nightmarish whistles and hoots. "Mysterious Semblance" soars and swoops like a lovely electronic eagle, bringing tripped-out light and cosmic dignity to the collection. This and the follow-up Rubycon are juicy pieces to the Tangerine Dream pie. --Karen Karleski

Customer Reviews:

Not quite as good as I had hoped.......2007-07-02

After reading so many comments about this album, I decided to pick it up myself. I bought "Phaedra" at the same time as "Zeit", and had listened to Zeit first. After having enjoyed Zeit quite a bit, I was optimistic about Phaedra. I've listened to it now, and I have to say, it wasn't quite as good as I had hoped.

I actually enjoyed Track #2 in this album the most. It wasn't quite as boring as the rest of the tracks, and I liked the flanging and other such effects used. This track is the reason I gave this album higher than two stars. Track #1 wasn't all that bad either, but the first half was a bit too repetitious. My primary gripe about this album is the last two tracks; something about them made me groan. They contained too many cheesy 70s style sounds mixed with flutes and Organs that I felt were more suitable for a medieval themed movie. Perhaps they are just too "cheery" for my taste. I really didn't enjoy them.

Another complaint I have about this album is the length. The first two tracks are average length for an Ambient CD, while the others are only eight minutes and two minutes long. It's almost as if the Authors didn't know what sound they were going for, so they just ended the tracks abruptly.

Like I said previously, I really enjoyed other albums by Tangerine Dream, such as Zeit. I just didn't enjoy this album as much. Most of my opinion might be attributed to the fact that I enjoy darker, more supernatural Ambient CDs. Some favorites of mine include "On Land", by Brian Eno, and "Selected Ambient Works Volume II", by Aphex Twin. If you enjoy the darker side of Ambient, then you might want to avoid Phaedra, and grab these albums instead (or Zeit).

Revolutionary for it's time.......2007-06-19

I have been a HUGE Tangerine Dream fan since the late '80s. I was very excited to purchase all of their older albums at that time and listened with great anticipation and sweet satisfaction to every one.

Phaedra was a bit of a disappointment for me. Phaedra, although it was something completely new and revolutionary as far as music goes, seemed to be directionless and dispassionate.

TD were still in the process of taming the musical beast known as he Moog synthesizer and I get the impression that they were still trying to get a feel as to exactly what they could do with it.

Yes. Phaedra was unlike anything ever heard at the time and the music is very spacey and atmospheric, but it really doesn't go anywhere. There are a few points that the music evokes certain feelings, but just when you get into it, the tone or timbres shift without warning and the mood is lost.

I do still listen to this CD from time to time, just to understand where TD came from and to appreciate how much they've evolved over the years. I do, however recommend "Phaedra 2005" which is basically the same album, but updated with "modern" synthesizers and keyboards and contains a newly recorded track "Delfi". This version seems to have a bit more going for it than the original. It is available through TD's website www.tangerinedream.org.

Peace

A VIRTUAL ACID TRIP.......2007-05-18

I was introduced to this album along with "YOU" by Gong on the same evening. Needless to say, I haven't been the same since. I was into so-called "progressive rock" at the time. Groups as disparate as Jethro Tull, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, ELP and Yes, and perhaps everyone else, were trying to "out space" each other. Tangerine Dream were, quite frankly, the most far out of them all. In fact, they dispensed with drums, bass and vocals altogether (leaving three guys on a stage with keyboards (Kraftwork, anyone?). Picture it as a "Steve Reich meets King Crimson meets Gong" instrumental type of art. This stuff has since been done to death, but, at the time, it was truly breathtaking. The music is similar to some so-called "serious" European composers of the era. Phaedra is, to my ears, the first strong, cohesive album of the group and marks their departure from an initial experimental phase into their classic period. This album was highly influential, preceeding Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" and the Vangelis "Chariots of Fire" music and serving as an obvious influence. New comers to this music may think there is nothing special here. That is because there has been a whole industry of film music based on the style of this group. In fact, Tangerine Dream later produced a number of film scores ("Sorcerer" being one of the first). Tangerine Dream were also pioneers for such new Wave groups as Ice House and what passed as "Eurodance" music of the '90s. Firmly rooted in the classical traditions of Stockhausen, Steve Reich and Terry Rielly,as well as the avant Garde Jazz and "progressive rock", Tangerine Dream crosses all styles and represents none (I like to think of it as music you would listen to as you float in a spacesuit around Werner Von Braun's space station). They are one of the few truly innovative and original groups around. Call them "noise makers"? Maybe. However, a good definition of "music" is "organized sound". THAT definition describes them well. Phaedra is one of their best albums. Check it out!!

TOP 3 TD.......2007-02-09

A classic of the ambient genre, primal electronic music for the brain. Anyone giving this album a 1 star based on comparisons to other (commercial) music are completely missing the point of this album & music.

Very overrated.......2007-01-08

Like every album, some say it's a masterpiece, some say it's a disaster.
I respect both, for me, this album is overrated. It is hard to find any melody in this, it looks like the keyboard player fell asleep on his keyboard, just like I felt asleep on my lazy boy. Another overrated product.

Philips and Decca Recordings, 1961-1979 (Limited Edition)

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Essential Performances from a Great & Beloved Singer

Philips and Decca Recordings, 1961-1979 (Limited Edition)
Janet Baker , John Shirley-Quirk , Graham Sheen , Johann Sebastian Bach , Ludwig van Beethoven , Hector Berlioz , Giovanni Bononcini , Benjamin Britten , Giulio Caccini , and Antonio Caldara
Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000B0A0Q
Release Date: 2003-11-25

Customer Reviews:

Essential Performances from a Great & Beloved Singer.......2004-01-09

For those of us who grew up on Janet Baker's recordings (and were lucky enough to hear her "live" as well), the sound of her voice and her singular artstic personality - British restraint coupled with fierce emotional and spiritual commitment - are indelibly imprinted in our minds and hearts. The closest current equivalent is Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, another superb artist who has charted her own course, and not surprisingly there is some overlap of repertoire, in the music of J.S. Bach, of course, but also Berlioz's Didon and Beatrice, Handel's Ariodante and Britten's Phaedra (composed for Baker).
This wonderful compilation is complementary to EMI's 2-CD "The Very Best of Janet Baker" -- no overlap of repertoire whatsoever. Unlike that set, which focused on concert repertoire (with orchestra or piano) there's a generous sampling here of Baker's operatic roles including Handel, Mozart, Purcell, Rameau, Gluck, and Britten. Also welcome is "Phaedra," one of Britten's strongest late works. And it's good to have the Berlioz: "Cleopatre" and "Herminie" complete, the big aria from "Beatrice et Benedict." (Why EMI included nothing from her recording of the last 2 scenes of "Les Troyens" is unfathomable.) The wide time-span allows us to hear Baker's voice in all its youthful, "sappy" warmth, as well as in its artistic maturity (though truth to tell she was pretty much a complete artist from the start). There are a few signs of wear in later items, nothing serious, in fact rather less than I remembered. I could have done with fewer of the "Arie Amorose" in favor of more cuts from her Gluck LP, which I believe has never been issued complete on CD, but that's just personal preference. The focus here is entirely on orchestrally accompanied works (or, in the case of the marvelous early disc of Ravel, Chausson & Delage songs, with chamber ensemble) so for Baker the supreme interpreter of English, German and French song you'll need to go elsewhere (the EMI has a fair sampling, especially of her Schubert). But everything here is indispensible.

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Pärt fans take note
Profound and intense
A contemporary tour de force

World To Come

Manufacturer: Koch Int'l Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Kinship
Oblivion
Osvaldo Golijov: Ayre
Osvaldo Golijov: Ainadamar
Golijov: Yiddishbbuk

ASIN: B0000CABC4
Release Date: 2003-10-21

Tracks:

Osvaldo Golijov: Mariel
David Lang: World To Come I
David Lang: World To Come II
David Lang: World To Come III
David Lang: World To Come IV
Arvo Part: Fratres for Four Cellos
John Tavener: Lament for Phaedra

Customer Reviews:

Pärt fans take note.......2005-08-12

Beyond the musical composition there is an intangible, almost mystical quality to many of Pärt's albums, especially my personal favorite - Tabula Rasa. Maya's version of Fratres is what initially attracted me to this album. However, this cut is actually now one of my least favorites. Track #1 alone would make this album worth the price. Maya's playing captures something that is beyond words and beyond any attempts to evaluate it based solely on its musicality. Buy it.

Profound and intense.......2005-03-23

It is impossible to describe this music, but suffice it to say that this CD contains some of the most compelling and interesting new music I've ever heard. The compositions have great emotional/spiritual depth and intensity, and Beiser's playing is strong and authoritative.

A contemporary tour de force.......2003-11-04

Maya Beiser's new recording is a sensational exploration into the world of multi-track recording. "Mariel" is a spiritual work, centered around what sounds like a South American folk song. "World to Come," by far the largest work on this disc, with vocals and multiple tracks of cellos, is inspirational and hopeful. A really enjoyable disc.

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Greek Classic With A Modern Twist

Phaedra
Mikis Theodorakis
Manufacturer: Theodorakis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Iphigenia
Electra
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Electra
Jazz Samba

ASIN: B00007DX4O
Release Date: 2006-10-23

Tracks:

Love Theme Form Phaedra
Rendezvous
Ship to Shore
London's Fog
One More Time
Agapi Mou
Only You
Fling
Candlelight
Rodostamo
Love Theme From Phaedra
Goodbye, John Sebastian

Customer Reviews:

Greek Classic With A Modern Twist.......2007-01-21

Of course I was just a tiny baby when the movie "Phaedra" was released in the early 1960's, but both the film and the soundtrack left a lasting impression. I lost the original LP version long ago & kept trying to locate another copy ever since--so this Amazon listing was a godsend. Despite the fact that it involved an overseas purchase, confirmation & delivery verification was timely--in fact I received the product earlier than the expected date. The film starring beautiful Melina Mercouri and a strangely cast Anthony Perkins is a modern version of the ancient Phaedra story. Phaedra is a queen married to a powerful & self-involved ruler. Due to the jealousy of Aphrodite, Phaedra falls fatally in love with her stepson. In the modern version the King owns a shipyard & parallels with the Onasis dynasty are pretty obvious.

The quality of the CD is excellent. You'd probably have to be a vintage movie fan to be interested, but the Love Theme is one of the best and conveys the destructive power of compulsive love & desire.

Cleopatra
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

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Britten's lesser operas?
Britten's lesser operas

Britten Conducts Britten: Operas 2

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000654OU6
Release Date: 2005-03-15

Customer Reviews:

Britten's lesser operas?.......2007-05-29

Of course it's all a matter of taste. I find most of Britten's operas first class with no exception. 'Gloriana' is an under-recorded jewel, full of melody and emotion. 'Turn of the Screw' a masterpiece of claustrophobic sense. 'Rape of Lucretia' full of chamber sensibility. And the performances cannot be bettered.
Need I say more? DECCA is paying an enormous service to collectors with these releases, especially those who have a real concern with storage space. They deserve 10 stars, if available.

Britten's lesser operas.......2007-05-13

I loved Britten's Operas 1. So I snatched this item up right away. It's o.k. but not as good as the first collection. Death in Venice was the only opera on these discs that I really cared for. It's every bit as good as the Hickox version so if you already have one there's really no need to buy the other. As for the other operas they're nowhere near as good as Billy Budd, Peter Grimes, or Albert Herring. For those just discovering Britten's operas start out with the first boxed set.

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Phaedra
Tangerine Dream
Manufacturer: EMI Japan
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00028XEEE
Release Date: 2004-08-02

Tracks:

Phaedra
Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares
Movements of a Visionary
Sequent C'

Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings; Nocturne; Phaedra

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Benjamin Britten's Magic Lives Well Beyond the Initial Recordings!
A Super-Budget Entry That Stands with the Best Available

Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings; Nocturne; Phaedra

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Britten: Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge; The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

ASIN: B0006IGQ6S
Release Date: 2005-02-22

Tracks:

Prologue
Pastoral
Nocturne
Elegy
Dirge
Hymn
Sonnet
Epilogue (Off Stage)
On A Poet's Lips I Slept
Below The Thunders Of The Upper Deep
Encintured With A Twine Of Leaves
Midnight's Bell Goes Ting, Ting, Ting, Ting
She Sleeps On Soft, Last Breaths/But No Ghost Looms
What Is More Gentle Than A Wind In Summer
When Most I Wink, Then Do Mine Eyes Best See
Prologue - In May, In Brilliant Athens
My Lost And Dazzled Eyes
Venus Resigned Her Altar To My New Lord
Venus resigned Her Altar To My New Lord
Phaedra In All Her Madness Stands Before You
The Wife Of Theseus Loves Hippolytus
Oh Gods Of Wrath
Death To The Unhappy's No Catastrophe
My Time's Too Short, Your Highness
Chills Already Dart Along My Boiling Veins

Customer Reviews:

Benjamin Britten's Magic Lives Well Beyond the Initial Recordings!.......2005-11-04

There are times when composers write works for specific musicians and because of that 'sacred coalition' all other performances and recordings pale. Such is most assuredly not the case for this splendid re-release of a recording made in the 1990s by Steuart Bedford conducting the English Chamber Orchestra and the soloists Philip Langridge, Ann Murray and Frank Lloyd.

Britten wrote the 1943 'Serenade for Tenor, and Strings' for his life partner Peter Pears and horn player Dennis Brain. Though that recording still exists and is excellent, this newer performance by Langridge (who has assumed all of the roles Pears once owned) and horn player Frank Lloyd is in many ways more fresh and delicate and sensitive. Langridge is blessed with not only a lovely tenor voice but also the gift of enunciation that allows every word of the poetry to sing. And the same can be said of the 1958 'Nocturne': Langridge vocal quality at the time of this recording surpasses Pears' gifts of his later years. This is an elegant and soulful performance.

The final piece on this CD is the 1973 'Phaedra' written for Janet Baker and premiered by Steuart Bedford who remains at the helm. Ann Murray is the soloist in a fine and dramatic reading of this rather turgid text. Her voice is rich and eloquent and her enunciation is clear. The sound for this recoding is superb and despite the re-mastering, it remains the envy of the industry. This is a superb recording at a surprisingly inexpensive price. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, November 03

A Super-Budget Entry That Stands with the Best Available.......2005-05-02

Here we have reissues of song cycles from the remarkable series of Britten performances originally on the now-defunct Collins Classics, led by Britten specialist Steuart Bedford. (Indeed, in 1975 he conducted the world première of 'Phaedra' with Janet Baker as the mezzo-soprano soloist.) These performances were contained on separate CDs when they first came out in the early 1990s. This one contains the two tenor/orchestra song cycles, 'Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings,' and 'Nocturne,' sung gorgeously by Philip Langridge, as well as the Ann Murray performance of 'Phaedra.' The English Chamber Orchestra, long associated with the music of Britten and the official orchestra of his Aldeburgh Festival, provides the orchestral accompaniments. (I spell all this out because at the time of this writing Amazon has made a mess of listing the musicians involved in these performances.)

There have been many recordings of the 'Serenade,' starting with Peter Pears's with Britten conducting and Dennis Brain playing the complex horn part. More recently there was a terrific performance by tenor John Mark Ainsley. Langridge's performances of both 'Serenade' and 'Nocturne' are more dramatically apt that Ainsley's, I believe. He uses more vocal shading and acts more with the voice without his sound ever becoming unmusical; his diction is a miracle of clarity as well. In 'Elegy,' for instance, when he sings the word 'sick,' he actually sounds sick, whereas Ainsley seems simply to sing the word as any other. This sort of shaping is heard throughout, and considering the heavy dramatic freight of the marvelous poetry in both this cycle and 'Nocturne' (which is a younger brother, on might say, of 'Serenade'), that is entirely admirable. He is one of the few I've ever heard to actually sound like a cat on the word 'mew' in the Nocturne's 'Midnight's bells go ting, ting, ting, ting.' And yet it is entirely musical. Frank Lloyd, the hornist in the Serenade, is a musician previously unknown to me, but his playing is wonderful. He does not have to take a back seat to either Dennis Brain or Dale Clevenger in their earlier recordings of this marvelous horn part.

Ann Murray fills large shoes when she sings the part premièred (and written for) Dame Janet Baker. Yet she does a fine job* with this rather more etiolated song cycle from Britten's final period. The cycle tells the story of Racine's Phèdre in Robert Lowell's verse translation and Murray's Phaedra becomes an impassioned, even wild, character in this performance.. Although full texts are included for 'Serenade' and 'Nocturne,' for some strange reason the text for 'Phaedra' is not included. A shame, although Murray's diction is clear enough that one can catch most of the words.

Although this issue is at super-budget price, it is worthy to stand beside any prior recordings of these Britten song cycles, and at this price the nod would, for many buyers, go to it.

Recommended.

TT=64:35

Scott Morrison

* Addendum: I've just heard the relatively new recording of 'Phaedra' with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, accompanied by Kent Nagano, and it simply blows away Murray's performance. Incredible singing, acting, diction, orchestral accompaniment. My strong recommendation of the other two pieces stands.

Britten - The Rescue of Penelope / Hagley, Ainsley, Wyn-Rogers, J. Baker ~ Phaedra / L. Hunt; Hallé Orch., Nagano

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Britten - The Rescue of Penelope / Hagley, Ainsley, Wyn-Rogers, J. Baker ~ Phaedra / L. Hunt; Hallé Orch., Nagano
Benjamin Britten , Hallé Orchestra , Kent Nagano , Janet Baker , Lorrain Hunt , Alison Hagley , John Mark Ainsley , Catherine Wyn-Rogers , and William Dazeley
Manufacturer: Erato
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs

ASIN: B000005E41
Release Date: 1996-06-11

Tracks:

The Rescue Of Penelope: Part One : Eight Years Have Passed
The Rescue Of Penelope: Yet Not All Reached Their Homes
The Rescue Of Penelope: Worse Still, The Island
The Rescue Of Penelope: Children Have Died Of Want
The Rescue Of Penelope: Yet Some Trust In An End
The Rescue Of Penelope: Your Prayer Is Answered
The Rescue Of Penelope: Long Suffering Odysseus
The Rescue Of Penelope: Listen, The Voices Of The Gods
The Rescue Of Penelope: Part Two : I, Athene, Rise To The Edge Of Night
The Rescue Of Penelope: When I See The Sorrow Of Mortal Odysseus
The Rescue Of Penelope: How loud the spring sounds all of a sudden
The Rescue Of Penelope: Bold. - Telemachus, watch the shadow on the wall!
The Rescue Of Penelope: There it is before you
The Rescue Of Penelope: Listen, Lords of Ithaca
The Rescue Of Penelope: Telemachus, be swift!
The Rescue Of Penelope: Now there is silence
Phaedra: Prologue : 'In May, In Brilliant Athens'
Phaedra: Recitative : 'My Lost And Dazzled Eyes'
Phaedra: Presto : 'You Monster'
Phaedra: Recitative : 'O Gods Of Wrath'
Phaedra: Adagio : 'My Time's Too Short'

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"Silva Screen releases film culture European style"
arthouse cafe 3

Arthouse Cafe, Vol. 3

Manufacturer: Silva America
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Arthouse Cafe, Vol. 1

ASIN: B00000I0DC
Release Date: 1999-02-16

Tracks:

Il Postino-Theme/The Bicycle
Last Tango In Paris-Theme
La Dolce Vita-Suite
Z-Theme
Death In Venice-Adagietto From Symphony No.5
Antonia's Line-Opening Credits
Das Boot-Theme
Suspiria-Theme
Cinema Paradiso-Theme
Phaedra-Suite
The Tin Drum-Suite
Amarcord-Suite
The Double Life Of Veronique-Concerto in e
Zorba The Greek-Zorba's Dance

Customer Reviews:

"Silva Screen releases film culture European style".......2001-11-28

Believe Silva Screen saved the best for last...the ongoing series comes to an end with "Arthouse Cafe 3"...this time highlighting not just the scores from France, but the entire European community...thus with have "Classic European Film Music" ...some of the best known composers around ~ Enrique Bacalov, Gato Barbieri, Van Den Budenmayer, Klaus Doldinger, Goblin, Maurice Jarre, Gustav Mahler, Ennio Morricone, Zbigniew Preisner, Nino Rota, Ilona Sekacz and Mikis Theodorakis...each composer so different in their approach to the story-line, but always setting the mood for each character to act out his or her part.

There are several stand outs on this compilation that need mentioning ~ "IL POSTINO"(Bacalov)..."LA DOLCE VITA"(Rota)..."Z"(Theodorakis)..."CINEMA PARADISO"(Morricone)..."PHAEDRA"(Theodorakis)..."ARMARCORD"(Rota)..."THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE"(Van den Budenmayer/Preisner)...and my all-time favorite "ZORBA THE GREEK"(Theodorakis), loved the film with Anthony Quinn, and the music was so inspiring, so earthy and festive, with a hint sadness reflections of daily life, with its ups and downs, will never forget the impact this had on me when I first heard his music.

Under the watchful eye of James Fitzpatrick(producer), featuring The City Of Prague Philharmonic...conducted by Paul Bateman and Nic Raine...Mark Ayres producing Electronic Music...so my "film-score-buff" friends, this is a keeper, make room for one of the most outstanding collections to come out of the SILVA SCREEN vaults!

Total Time: 71:01 on 14 Tracks ~ Silva Screen Records STD-5019 ~ (1998)

arthouse cafe 3.......2000-09-25

I found this selection of European Film Music harmonically well put together...although I expected to have the themes played a little longer - some are only two to three minutes long - This takes away from the beauty of the melody. Otherwise the combination between the themes in "Il Postino" and "Cinema Paradiso" or "Zorba" combined with "Amarcord" and "Das Boot" makes it a very atractive C.D., offering "the unexpectated".

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DREADFUL LIBRETTO: GREAT OPERA

Britten: The Rape of Lucretia; Phaedra

Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Leos Janacek: Vec Makropulos (The Makropulos Case) / Lachian Dances

ASIN: B0000041WC
Release Date: 2003-04-08

Tracks:

Phaedra: In May, in brilliant Athens - Janet Baker
Phaedra: Oh Gods of wrath - Janet Baker
Phaedra: My time's too short, your highness - Janet Baker
The Rape of Lucretia: Act I: Scene 1: Rome is now ruled by the Etruscan upstart - Peter Pears
The Rape of Lucretia: Act I: Scene 1: It is an axiom among kings - Heather Harper
The Rape of Lucretia: Act I: Scene 1: Here the thirsty evening - Peter Pears
The Rape of Lucretia: Act I: Scene 1: Who reaches heaven first - John Shirley-Quirk
The Rape of Lucretia: Act I: Scene 1: Maria was unmasked at a masked ball - Bryan Drake
The Rape of Lucretia: Act I: Scene 1: Collatinus is politically astute - Peter Pears
The Rape of Lucretia: Act I: Scene 1: There goes a happy man! - Benjamin Luxon
The Rape of Lucretia: Act I: Scene 1: Tarquinius does not dare - Bryan Drake/Peter Pears
The Rape of Lucretia: Act I: Scene 1: My horse! My horse!...Tarquinius does not wait - Peter Pears
The Rape of Lucretia: Act I: Scene 2: Their spinning-wheel unwinds - Heather Harper
The Rape of Lucretia: Act I: Scene 2: Listen! I heard a knock - Janet Baker
The Rape of Lucretia: Act I: Scene 2: Time treads upon the hands of women - Heather Harper
The Rape of Lucretia: Act I: Scene 2: The oatmeal slippers of sleep - Heather Harper

Tracks:

The Rape of Lucretia: Act II: Scene 1: The prosperity of the Etruscans - Heather Harper
The Rape of Lucretia: Act II: Scene 1: She sleeps as a rose - Heather Harper
The Rape of Lucretia: Act II: Scene 1: Within this frail crucible of light - Bryan Drake
The Rape of Lucretia: Act II: Scene 1: Lucretia!...What do you want? - Bryan Drake/Janet Baker
The Rape of Lucretia: Act II: Scene 1: Interlude: Here in this scene - Peter Pears/Heather Harper
The Rape of Lucretia: Act II: Scene 2: Oh! What a lovely day! - Jenny Hill/Elizabeth Bainbridge
The Rape of Lucretia: Act II: Scene 2: We'll leave the orchids for Lucretia - Elizabeth Bainbridge
The Rape of Lucretia: Act II: Scene 2: Flowers bring to every year - Janet Baker
The Rape of Lucretia: Act II: Scene 2: You were right - Jenny Hill
The Rape of Lucretia: Act II: Scene 2: Lucretia! Lucretia! - John Shirley-Quirk
The Rape of Lucretia: Act II: Scene 2: Last night Tarquinius ravished me - Janet Baker
The Rape of Lucretia: Act II: Scene 2: This dead hand lets fall - John Shirley-Quirk
The Rape of Lucretia: Act II: Scene 2: Epilogue: Is it all? - Heather Harper

Customer Reviews:

DREADFUL LIBRETTO: GREAT OPERA.......2006-08-31

Lucretia is probably the worst libretto Britten ever set. Its awkward combination of the classical with the Christian, the slips into dated vernacular or the high-flown and pretentiously poetic, all conspire to set it on a level with Tippett at his most embarrassing. Was the composer just not strong enough with his librettist, Ronald Duncan (several of whose plays he had written incidental music for)? He certainly got what he needed out of Eric Crozier, Myfanwy Piper, even E.M.Forster - often by bullying and insisting on his own way.

It's a shame for he wrote some of his loveliest and most beautiful music in this, the first of his chamber operas. He was already a master of his slimmed-down orchestra, something he had learnt from his time writing for Post Office documentaries and various left-wing plays. Just listen to the evocation of a sultry Latin night in the opening scene with its chirruping crickets and booming bullfrogs. Or the thrill of the wild Ride to Rome. And here (in `She sleeps as a rose upon the night') is the first of those magically dreamy nocturnes that recur in later operas like Albert Herring and The Turn of the Screw. The vocal lines are also memorable, tuneful and among the composer's best, whether the insistently obsessive motif on Lucretia's name, the hair-raising runs of the Ride to Rome (tailor-made for Pears' ability to ride straight through the passagio in the voice), the ravishing harmonies as the women fold linen or the heart-break of Lucretia's confession.

The performance on these discs, conducted by the composer, were linked to a touring English Opera Group production and so have a real feeling of the theatre about them. The singers show just how strong the `Aldeburgh Rep' was at that time. Janet Baker is unbeatable as the heroine - at least on a par with the role's creator, Kathleen Ferrier, and often better. Benjamin Luxon is all power and lust: Bryan Drake has just the right edge to his voice for the political mob-stirrer, Junius: John Shirley-Quirk saves Collatinus from being the rather pale goody-goody he can often seem by concentrating on the text as well as his customary beauty of tone. The two Greek-style Choruses have to handle some of the more awkward passages of the libretto. As I've said, the Male Chorus's part is actually designed for Pears' voice and he sings it with his familiar inimitable style, if without quite the freshness he brought to the various performances now available from the time of the opera's premiere. Heather Harper doesn't quite efface memories of Joan Cross, but she is as hauntingly beautiful as ever in Britten's music. And Britten as conductor is naturally and as always a supreme communicator of his own intentions. He elicits some wonderful playing from his small ECO group and paces the piece, dramatically as well as musically, just right.

This is as near a definitive performance of the work as you'll find. Some of the earlier recordings, as I've said, are worth exploring, but are much more dated in sound terms. Hickox's later CDs have a fine Lucretia in Jean Rigby and an interesting alternative to Pears in Nigel Robson's Chorus, but don't quite hit the spot as this performance does. And on these discs you also get Janet Baker's riveting performance of Phaedra, a cantata from late in the composer's career when he was already seriously ill and which is effectively a distilled and concentrated opera in its own right.

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