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Xerxes (Various Artists)
Xerxes (Various Artists)
Stars: Ann Murray, Valerie Masterson, English Nat'l Opera Orch And Chorus, Lesley Garrett, Christopher Robson, Jean Rigby, Rodney Macann, Charles MackerrasDirector: Nicholas Hytner
Summary: This staging of Handel's opera won awards for best opera production in 1985. This revival, in 1995, gained similar praise.
Charles Mackerras conducts a performance of Handel's opera XERXES at the London Coliseum. The cast includes Ann Murray, Lesley Garrett, Valerie Masterson, and Christopher Robson, along with the English National Opera.
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The English National Opera has always had an attractively light touch in Handel; this classic production, designed by Nicholas Hytner (director of The Madness of King Georgeand The Crucible), manages to preserve both the work's occasional passion and its undercutting of that passion into urbane absurdity. Anne Murray's Xerxes is a tyrant in love, who learns the hard way that he can neither play with, nor command, his subjects' affections; her forthright declamatory singing, not least in the famous "Larghetto", conveys both the petulance and the final grandeur of a man undergoing a sentimental education. Valerie Masterson and Christopher Hudson, as the principal pair of lovers, combine perfect singing with an attractive romantic ardour; Hudson in particular makes clear just how heroic a counter-tenor can sound, listened to without preconceptions. In the soubrette role of Atalanta, Lesley Garrett is a cute trouble-maker. Sir Charles Mackerras' conducting gives each of the genre arias of which the work consists both an appropriate intensity of emotion and an overall charm. The English libretto is by Hytner. The recording is decent PCM stereo and the picture, originally produced for TV broadcast, is in 4:3 ratio. --Roz Kaveney
| Aspect Ratio: | 4:3 Full Frame |
| Main Language: | English |
| Region: | Region 2 |
| Subtitles: | Dutch, French, German |
| Year: | 1995 |
| Release Date: | August 29, 2000 |
| Runtime: | 186 minutes |
| Certification: | Exempt. |
| Catalogue Number: | 100 076 |
| Keywords: | Music, Opera, Works, Stage, Classical, Performing, Xerxes, Operetta, Arts |
| Genre: | Music/Performing Arts |
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