Dante

Liszt’s Dante Symphony is a work of astonishing imagination. His evocation of the ‘Inferno’, the shade of Francesca da Rimini and her sad remembered love is marked by strokes of genius which, with bewildering frequency, pre-empt the mature Wagner (who was, incidentally, the dedicatee of the work). If the second and third movements – the ‘Paradiso’ was wisely commuted to a setting of part of the Magnificat plus a brief Hosanna – don’t quite match the sweep and control of the first, they have their own particular magic. Even so, the work has not acquired the popularity of the Faust Symphony. Barenboim’s new recording with the Berlin Philharmonic is thus particularly welcome. Not only does it augment the number of available recordings to four, it is also the most polished. Even performing ‘live’, the Berlin Philharmonic turns in a performance of near-perfection – the solo lines are a particular joy.

«Une enquête a été faite contre […] Dante Alighieri, du sestiere de Saint Pierre majeur […] pour établir s'il a commis des « barateries », des injustes extorsions et des gagnes illicites en argent ou en nature» …

Orange Mountain Music and the Metropolitan Opera are proud to announce the release of Philip Glass’s opera SATYAGRAHA across a variety of media. SATYAGRAHA portrays Gandhi’s years in South Africa during the time he developed his tools for social transformation through nonviolence. Captured at the 2011 revival of the work, the production was directed by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch and starred Richard Croft as Gandhi along with a stellar cast with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus under Dante Anzolini. Sung in Sanskrit from texts drawn from the Bhagavad Gita, the opera dramatically portrays the vocal text was by Constance DeJong with book by Philip Glass and Constance DeJong. The Met Opera’s co-production with the English National Opera was heard in New York in 2008 and 2011 and in London in 2007, 2013, and 2013.