Le Château de Barbe-Bleue

Le Château de Barbe-Bleue Béla Bartók A stunning vocal tête-à-tête performed here by two giants of the operatic stage.

Cast

Elīna Garanča | Judith

Christian Van Horn | Barbe-Bleue

Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo

Lio Kuokman | conductor

Programme

First part of the programme

Bartók Allegro barbaro, orchestral arrangement by Giancarlo Chiaramello

Kodály Danses de Galánta

In a few words

When Bartók composed Le Château de Barbe-Bleue, he was at the confluence of his discovery of Debussy's music and his ethnomusicological research into popular repertoires. His only opera would be the fortunate fusion of these two influences. Organised into seven moments corresponding to each of the castle's doors, Le Château de Barbe-Bleue is a powerful work, an existential drama where the feeling of love is laid bare in a concise form. But this is merely a superficial economy for anyone familiar with the orchestral forces and vocal prowess required by the work. A hallucinatory and striking tête-à-tête, like a metaphor for solitude and the difficulty of romantic relationships.

Co-production Les Grandes Voix | Théâtre des Champs-Élysées