Orphee et Eurydice by Marc Minkowski

I listened to Gluck’s opera Orphee et Eurydice conducted by Marc Minkowski and orchestrated by Les Musiciens du Louvre.

Marc Minkowski’s orchestration is refined, lively and as always, impressively elegant. His orchestration in this production is little less powerful than the same opera by John Eliot Gardier’s but more sensitive and hauntingly beautiful.

Soprano, Mireille Delunsch sung Eurydice. I prefer her Eurydice than her Poppea. Her elegant, silky dark shade of her beautiful voice is well suited for this role.

Gluck wrote the role of Orpheus for alto castrato originally for the Italian premiere in 1762 and then revised it to soprano castrato in another Italian production with both sung in Italian. And then he changed it to high tenor with French libretto when he presented it in France in 1774. The reason is that although the use of castrato singers as main roles was widely popular throughout Europe but exception of France. According to the production note, French preferred tenors to sing their hero roles.

Orpheus is sung by tenor, Richard Croft. He sung sensitive, tender romantic Orpheus wonderfully. I read somewhere that he had bad health condition for he had cold in this live recording. It’s hard to tell when listening to his highly technical coloratura aria like " L'espoir renait dans mon ame”. His voice is very beautiful in this opera though his phrasing sounds better in Italian than in French.

He sings the best aria in this opera "J'ai perdu mon Eurydice" most tenderly. Orpheus sings this aria in the most dramatic moment of the opera when he realizes he lost his wife, Eurydice again and this time, forever by looking back.  When I first listened to this aria, I was initially taken back by its light brightness. This aria is little too lyrical and too melodious for the most tormented moment when he should cry out or scream.

But more I listened, the more the melody became hauntingly tender, row and painfully beautiful. Orpheus’ heart is absolutely broken. This aria is stark contrast to the earlier upbeat marching aria, “L'espoir renait dans mon ame” when he was giving the hope to see Eurydice again. Gluck did very innovating thing.