Orff: Gisei - Das Opfer
Kathryn Lewek (Kwan Shusai), Ryan McKinny (Genzo), Ulrike Helzel (Tonami), Markus Brueck (Matsuo), Elena Zhidkova (Chiyo), Jana Kurucová (Kotaro), Burkhard Ulrich (Gemba)
Chor und Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Jacques Lacombe
the teenage Orff’s astoundingly well-developed sense of theatre and cool distance from the action see him succeed where most tyro opera composers fail. He instinctively knows when words must...
Orff: Gisei - Das Opfer
Kathryn Lewek (Kwan Shusai), Ryan McKinny (Genzo), Ulrike Helzel (Tonami), Markus Brueck (Matsuo), Elena Zhidkova (Chiyo), Jana Kurucová (Kotaro), Burkhard Ulrich (Gemba)
Chor und Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Jacques Lacombe
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the teenage Orff’s astoundingly well-developed sense of theatre and cool distance from the action see him succeed where most tyro opera composers fail. He instinctively knows when words must...
About
In 1913, when he was only eighteen years old, Carl Orff finished his first opera, Gisei; an ancient tale of Japanese tragedy set in a village school at which a high-ranking official sacrifices his own son in order to save his master’s son. A young and more tentative side to the composer can be found in this work, which prefigures the imaginative flourishing of one of the most original composers of the twentieth century.
Contents and tracklist
- Ulrike Helzel (mezzo-soprano), Kathryn Lewek (soprano), Elena Zhidkova (mezzo-soprano), Ryan McKinny (bass-baritone), Jana Kurucová (mezzo-soprano), Burkhard Ulrich (tenor), Markus Brück (baritone)
- Deutsche Oper Berlin, Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin
- Jacques Lacombe
- Recorded: 18-19 May 2012
- Recording Venue: Deutsche Oper Berlin, Germany
Awards and reviews
June 2016
the teenage Orff’s astoundingly well-developed sense of theatre and cool distance from the action see him succeed where most tyro opera composers fail. He instinctively knows when words must lead, and when music can be given its head: from moonlit, glimmering prelude to sombre climax, Das Opfer grips us first to last.
