Pentatone Exclusive

The Canterville Ghost

Oper Leipzig Orchestra

20,9928,49
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Original Recording Format: DSD 64
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Wilde’s finest poetry is in his prose, and his finest prose is in his children’s stories. Most are dark. Sacrifice and heartbreak are the themes. Frank homage is paid to Hans Christian Andersen, whose little match girl and little mermaid repeat their roles in Wilde’s The Happy Prince and The Fisherman and His Soul.
The Canterville Ghost looks at the sunnier side. Virginia’s sacrifice, and the ghost’s heartbreak, reach the endings we hoped for. All of Wilde’s ideas but one are inspired. He was never in better form. Not many writers could have sent up the stolid Otises or the indignant Sir Simon so richly while leaving us in on their side throughout.
While my previous opera Usher House turns Poe upside down, the libretto for The Canterville Ghost follows Wilde’s short story pretty closely. His one misjudgment was Sir Simon’s murder of his wife three centuries before, and his breezy justification of it to Virginia. That might have fit in many of Wilde’s works. Here it grates against the wholesome and family-friendly theme.
The libretto, like the 1944 movie with Charles Laughton, changes this detail. The bloodstain is also relocated from the floor to the armor, so that the audience can see it. Also Canterville and Cheshire are given more continuous roles, Washington Otis is left out, and Mrs. Umney is seen but not heard. These changes reflect no critique of Wilde. Stage and page have different needs. The dos and don’ts of romantic comedy are pretty much eternal. Wilde has given us one, in short story form, of unique beauty and genius. We laugh and cry, and are enriched. I added music, and some words, with the same intention. The trick is in bringing it off. Comedy is hard.
– Gordon Getty

Tracklist

Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.
1.
Scene 1 - Great Grandpapa, is there really a ghost here?
05:30
2.
Scene 2 - My dear Otises
05:10
3.
Scene 3 - Daddy, hurry! Bring the key!
02:18
4.
Scene 4 - My dear sir, I really must insist on your oiling those chains
01:16
5.
Scene 5 - Rising Sun Lubricator!
03:00
6.
Scene 6 - I confess disappointment
02:54
7.
Scene 7 - I fear you are far from well
01:36
8.
Scene 8 - Insupportable! To be lectured on professionalism!
03:50
9.
Scene 9 - Boo!
00:33
10.
Scene 10 - Unclean!
00:31
11.
Scene 11
00:35
12.
Scene 12 - Fiasco! Disgrace!
01:17
13.
Scene 13 - Again no bloodstain on the armor
01:49
14.
Scene 14 - I hear the ghost has packed his bags
02:38
15.
Scene 15 - Barbara! Barbara! Does anyone hear me?
13:27
16.
Scene 16 - Hiram, she is nowhere in the house
00:54
17.
Scene 17 - She isn?t here
00:43
18.
Scene 18 - Thank you, Mrs. Umney. You may all go to bed now
02:45
19.
Scene 19 - My good Otis, thank you for putting me up again
02:28
20.
Scene 20 - Then shall all the house be still
08:43

Total time: 01:01:57

Additional information

Label

SKU

PTC5186541

Qualities

Channels

, ,

Artists

Composers

Genres

,

Mastering Engineer

Polyhymnia

Conductors

Original Recording Format

Producer

Job Maarse

Recording Engineer

Jean Marie Geijsen, Karel Bruggeman

Recording location

Oper Leipzig, Germany

Recording Software

Merging

Recording Type & Bit Rate

DSD64

Release DateJune 23, 2017

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