COMPOSERS: Fenelon
LABELS: Erato
WORKS: Le chevalier imaginaire
PERFORMER: Leroy Villanueva, Aurio Tomicich, Melanie Armitstead; Ensemble InterContemporain/Peter Eötvös
CATALOGUE NO: 4509-96394-2 DDD
This opera adds a new twist to Cervantes’s tale of Don Quixote. Imagine that the Don were himself a figment of someone’s imagination – and that someone were none other than his squire Sancho Panza! Philippe Fénelon (born 1952) takes this beguiling idea from Franz Kafka and creates around it a haunting musical dreamscape, which, despite its initially abrasive sound, I found completely captivating. It’s beautifully performed and sung on this live recording. Ivan Hewett
Fenelon
This opera adds a new twist to Cervantes’s tale of Don Quixote. Imagine that the Don were himself a figment of someone’s imagination – and that someone were none other than his squire Sancho Panza! Philippe Fénelon (born 1952) takes this beguiling idea from Franz Kafka and creates around it a haunting musical dreamscape, which, despite its initially abrasive sound, I found completely captivating. It’s beautifully performed and sung on this live recording. Ivan Hewett
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:14 pm