Search - Christoph Willibald Gluck, John Eliot Gardiner, Anne Sofie von Otter :: Gluck - Orphée & Eurydice (Berlioz version) / von Otter, Barbara Hendricks, Fournier, Gardiner

Gardiner's Excellent "Orphée & Eurydice"

Opera Fan | 01/20/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a fifteen-year-old who's recently become an opera buff. Even though I generally prefer the likes of Puccini, Mozart, Bizet, and Offenbach to baroque opera, I've been listening to Gluck's "Orfeo/Orphée" a lot in the past year. Finding out that the movie "Moulin Rouge!" is loosely based on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth got me interested in it, and I've heard almost every major recording of it now. Thid one is one of the best. Anne Sofie von Otter's Orpheus is meltingly beautiful and passionately acted, her only flaw being that she sounds a little too feminine sometimes. Barbara Hendricks is a little breathy somethimes, but for the most part, her Eurydice is beautifully sung and appropriately intense. Brigitte Fournier is one of my favorite Amors. So many sopranos disappoint me in that role because they don't sound youthful enough, but that's not a problem with Fournier at all. The chorus is very good, and I love the energy of Gardiner's conducting. In short, this recording surpasses many of the others out there, and I'm very happy to have heard it."

One of the top 10 opera recordings ever made

Rondine | Lakewood, Colorado USA | 03/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am amazed that there is only one (albeit the rating is the same as mine) review for this recording. It is absolutely perfect both vocally and instrumentally. There is not a weak place anywhere. In her Act I aria, von Otter is astonishing and the blending of the voices in the Act II duets is superb. The energy is breathtaking and Gardiner's pace and direction is precise. A wholly satisfying work to listen to again and again"