Véronique Gens, Marie-Adeline Henry, Frédéric Antoun, Andrew Foster-Williams, Jean Teitgen, Munich Radio Orchestra & Ulf Schirmer - Saint-Saëns: Proserpine, R. 292 (2017)
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+log+.cue) - 416 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 220 Mb | Digital booklet | 01:34:46
Classical, Opera | Label: Bru Zane, Ediciones Singulares
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+log+.cue) - 416 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 220 Mb | Digital booklet | 01:34:46
Classical, Opera | Label: Bru Zane, Ediciones Singulares
The protagonist of Saint-Saëns’ Proserpine, premiered at the Opéra-Comique on 14 March 1887, is no reincarnation of the ancient goddess, but a Renaissance courtesan well versed in culpable amours. According to the composer, she is ‘a damned soul for whom true love is a forbidden fruit; as soon as she approaches it, she experiences torture’. Yet for all the innocence of her rival Angiola, the unexpected happens: ‘It is the bloodthirsty beast that is admirable; the sweet creature is no more than pretty and likeable.’ Visibly enraptured by this delight in horror, Saint-Saëns indulges in unprecedented orchestral modernity, piling on the dissonances beneath his characters’ cries of rage or despair. He concluded thus: ‘Proserpine is, of all my stage works, the most advanced in the Wagnerian system.’ The least-known, too, and one which it was high time to reveal to the public, in its second version, revised in 1899.