Dusapin Medeamaterial
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Pascal Dusapin
Genre:
Opera
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Magazine Review Date: 6/1993
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 54
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: HMC90 5215
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Medeamaterial |
Pascal Dusapin, Composer
(La) Chapelle Royale Orchestra Chorus Collegium Vocale Hilde Leidland, Medea, Soprano Pascal Dusapin, Composer Philippe Herreweghe, Conductor |
Author: Arnold Whittall
Medeamaterial was designed to form a double bill with Purcell's Dido and Aeneas—or even, more specifically, with that opera's culminating lament. Pascal Dusapin and his librettist Heiner Muller have sought to transform the story of Medea into a monodramatic lament, and the notes with the disc give one no idea as to how much movement or action the performance of Medeamaterial involves.
Judging the music in isolation, it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that it is counter-productively static. Dusapin (b. 1955) seems to be in full retreat from an early association with Xenakis which led to music of considerable density and vehemence, and reaction to his first opera, Romeo et Juliette (1988), highlighted the problems of pacing that arise when a relatively unrelieved lyricism holds sway.Medea-material has its moments of haunting obsessiveness, and achieves a powerful climax at the end of the sixth of its ten tracks. But in general there is insufficient nourishment for the ear alone and even the lyricism resists the kind of full melodic flowering that might quicken the interest.
Hilde Leidland seems thoroughly at home with her demanding role—especially its use of her powerful high register—but the German text is not always easy to follow, and there is no English version in the booklet. The character of the whole enterprise may be best summed up by the instruction (not followed in this well-engineered recording) that the work's initial organ note be sustained ''for forty-five minutes before the start of the opera''.'
Judging the music in isolation, it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that it is counter-productively static. Dusapin (b. 1955) seems to be in full retreat from an early association with Xenakis which led to music of considerable density and vehemence, and reaction to his first opera, Romeo et Juliette (1988), highlighted the problems of pacing that arise when a relatively unrelieved lyricism holds sway.
Hilde Leidland seems thoroughly at home with her demanding role—especially its use of her powerful high register—but the German text is not always easy to follow, and there is no English version in the booklet. The character of the whole enterprise may be best summed up by the instruction (not followed in this well-engineered recording) that the work's initial organ note be sustained ''for forty-five minutes before the start of the opera''.'
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