Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Alceste: OVERTURE
2. Alceste: ERSTER ACT ERSTE SZENE
3. Alceste: ERSTER ACT ZWEITE SZENE
4. Alceste: ERSTER ACT DRITTE SZENE
5. Alceste: ERSTER ACT VIERTE SZENE
6. Alceste: ERSTER ACT FUNFTE SZENE
7. Alceste: ERSTER ACT SECHSTE SZENE
8. Alceste: ERSTER ACT SIEBTE SZENE

Disc 2:

1. Alceste: Zweiter Akt Erste Szene
2. Alceste: Zweiter Akt Zweite Szene
3. Alceste: Zweiter Akt Dritte Szene
4. Alceste: Zweiter Akt Vierte Szene

Disc 3:

1. Alceste: DRITTER AKT ERSTE SZENE
2. Alceste: DRITTER AKT ZWEITE SZENE
3. Alceste: DRITTER AKT DRITTE SZENE
4. Alceste: DRITTER AKT VIERTE SZENE
5. Alceste: FUNFTE SZENE
6. Alceste: DRITTER AKT SECHSTE SZENE
7. Alceste: DRITTER AKT SIEBTE SZENE
8. Alceste: DRITTER AKT ACHTE SZENE
9. Alceste: DRITTER AKT NEUNTE SZENE

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #325569 in Music
• Released on: 1995-03-10
• Number of discs: 3

Customer Reviews

The only available recording of the French "Alceste"
This is the only recording of the 1776 French version of "Alceste" currently available. The recent recording directed by Ostman ( for Naxos ) was very well received but it uses the Italian score of 1767 (and so do the live recordings with Flagstad and Callas available in Europe). I would personally go for the French version, as it demonstrates best the achievement of Gluck's reform work. Because the work focuses so much on the main character, it is essential to cast an outstanding performer. Jessye Norman's performance of the title role is very good indeed. Her voice encompasses the difficult tessitura without any strain (mezzos who, like Baker and more recently Von Otter sang the role on stage usually needed transpositions)and her diction of the French verses is clear. One might prefer a more dramatic sound for this role but I personally find that Norman's lyrical soprano suits this 18th century queen character well. Norman's Alceste remains noble and suitably royal in her dispair, but she does still brings exciting colours to her fury against the Gods' injustice in the famous aria "Divinités du Styx...". Not surprisingly, Gedda's portrayal of Admete is exemplary : by the time of the recording (early 80's), he had plenty of experience with the role which he had sung since the mid 50's and he is able to make a very credible character from a role which might otherwise seem rather underdeveloped. Of course Gedda's French diction is of the highest standard. A very recommandable recording all in all... If you enjoy this recording and are interested in Gluck's work, you should also try Gardiner's "Iphigénie en Tauride" (Philips) and Minkowski's "Armide" (DG). There is currently too little to choose from as far as Gluck operas recordings are concerned.

An impressive achievement, then and now
This was the first digital recording of Alceste and the first I heard which convinced me of the genius of Gluck. Recorded in 1982, it features an amazingly all-star cast for so little-performed an opera: Jessye Norman, Nicolai Gedda, Tom Krause, Siegmund Nimsgern and Bernd Weikl, experienced dramatic singers all, and I will avow that they all give their very best in this recording. Indeed, Norman has rarely sounded so emotionally involved on record as she does here; and, though Gedda's voice was past its prime by 1982, he is ideal in presenting the character of the weak, old, and very ill King Admete, his patrician phrasing and impeccable French diction a real plus.

I hesitated giving this recording five stars, however, because Serge Baudo's conducting is rather slow at times, which is his wont--very strange indeed, considering that he was the nephew of Charles Munch, one of the most incendiary conductors in history! However, it must be said that of all the Baudo performances I have heard, both live and on discs, this is the most passionate, and that says a lot for the obvious love that every member of this cast brings to the opera. I consider this an indispensable Alceste and the cornerstone of a good Gluck opera collection!

Gluck's Alceste
The operas of Gluck (1714 -- 1784) have been enjoying a well-deserved revival on CDs in recent years. I have long been a lover of his works which for me combine grandeur, power and simplicity with naturalism and rationalism. The story of Alceste revolves around the willingness of the heroine to sacrifice her life to save that of her husband, following the pronouncement of a Greek oracle. In many ways Alceste is a predecessor of Leonore in Beethoven's "Fidelio." Gluck has written music for his heroine which is both stark and passionate. It resonates with her love of life, her love for her husband and children, and her willingness to give up her own life for love of her husband. Alceste in Gluck's music is both a strong, individual, and passionate woman.

This recording of Gluck's "Alceste" on Orfeo is over 20 years old but still offers an outstanding way to get to know this music. The performes include the Barvarian Radio Symphony conducted by Serge Baudo, and tenor Nicolai Gedda as King Admetus, king of Thessaly. It features a passionate performance by American soprano Jessye Norman in one of her best roles as the heroine, supported well by tenor Nicolai Gedda as her husband, King Admetus of Thessaly. The chorus plays an integral role in "Alceste", stirringly performed on this CD by the Chorus of the Bavarian Radio.

Gluck composed two versions of "Alceste". The first version was composed in Vienna and dates from 1767, with a liberetto in Italian by Calzabigi. It is written in an austure style to match the preface which Gluck wrote for this work outlining his tenets of "reform" opera. He wrote: "I have striven to restrict music to its true office of serving poetry by means of expression and by following the situations of the story, without interrupting the action or stifling it with a useless superfluity of ornaments." The 1767 version of "Alceste" can be found in a recording on Naxos conducted by Arnold Ostman and featuring soprano Theresa Ringholz as Alceste.

Gluck's second version of the opera dates from 1776 with a liberetto in French by Roulette. It is the version recorded on this CD by Baudo and Norman. The 1776 version differs substantially from its predecessor. Gluck modified the "reform" principles of his 1767 score to meet the tastes of his French listeners. The long recitive sections of the earlier version are cut back, the arias become more florid and ornamental, and there is a greater use of ballet and orchestral interluces (although the earlier version has them as well). The liberetto was substantially changed as well with the presentation of the events of the story greatly reorganized. In particular, the third act of the opera caused Gluck and his librettist a great deal of difficulty. The character Ismene, a friend of the heroine's plays a significant role in the 1767 opera but doesn't appear in the Paris version. Notoriously, the character of Hercules appears in the finale of the Paris opera but is absent from the original score. In their music and liberettos, the 1767 and 1775 scores are sufficiently different to be two separate operas, rather than one opera in two slightly different version.

I was deeply moved by this performance, especially by Jessie Norman's "Alceste." Her performance is passionate and virtuosic in a difficult multi-faceted role. Listen to her singing of the most famous aria in the opera, the heroic "Divinities de Styx" at the end of Act 1 and compare it two her immediately proceeding aria "Non ce n'est point un sacrifice" with its brooding tone of tragedy and loss. Her duets with Gedda are moving as well. The chorus in the work, representing the people of Thessaly as they struggle with the dilemmas of Alcestis and Admetus, provide firm support.

As part of my listening, I listened separately to each act of this CD and followed it up immediately by listening to the performance of the same act in the 1767 version with Ostman and Ringholtz. I found this revealing in understanding the differences between the scores and the versions. The Paris version is the more accessible and dramatic but the austurites of the original score have their beauties as well.

For those coming to "Alceste", this version is an outstanding introduction. For those who love Gluck and who love "Alceste", I recommend having both the latter and the earlier version of this masterpiece. In this music, passion and emotion combine with a feel of rigor and reason.

Robin Friedman