Technical Details: Interactive menu Sound: DTS/ DD 5.1/ Digital Stereo Region Code: worldwide Picture Format: 4:3  Special: 5.1 Surround Check Tool   Running Time: ca. 72 min.

Order No: 55006 C.W. Gluck Orpheus and Eurydice   Opera in three acts (Concert Version)   Orchestra: La Grande Ecurie et La Chambre du Roi Conductor: Jean-Claude Malgloire Soloists: James Bowman, Lynne Dawson, Claron McFadden, Les Choeurs de Namur   The Orpheus myth exists in a great number of ancient religions. Its deep meaning expresses the initiatory road by which the human being can accede to artistic immortality. Thus did the poet Orpheus, in thrall to the pain caused by the loss of his wife, Eurydice, compose the "Master Song", which saw him justifiably elevated to the gods. From the start, "the entities watching over us from the other side of death" set a trap for Orpheus that would bring him immortality in exchange for his human happiness. And it is the tragic chorus whose masks evoke the dead Eurydice's face for him, multiplied to infinity. Through Eros' good graces, Orpheus would be granted the favour of wandering among the dead in search of Eurydice. But to do this, he had to swear not to look back at her before reaching the land of the living. Everything would be done to make him forsake his oath. Confronted by the young woman's terror of death's reality, he would forget his oath and turn round to comfort her. Having lost her for a second time, crushed by the weight of his own liability and now removed from all earthly attachments, he would compose the famous song that would win him immortality. And of Eurydice returned to existence by Eros, he would take with him into immortality only the mask substantiating his memories.