简介：

本韦努托·切里尼是16世纪意大利的一位传奇般的人物，他多才多艺，集雕塑家、金饰匠和作家于一身，还曾在建筑设计、音乐、军事等诸多领域里一显身手。当伯辽兹读到这位古人的《自传》时，他立即被书中惊奇跌宕、五彩缤纷的内容吸引住了，他还认定以这位传奇人物的经历为题材写一部歌剧将获得成功。伯辽兹坚定地投入了这一事业，但当歌剧《本韦努托·切里尼》——他寄予厚望的心血之作——在1838年9月首演时惨遭失败，而且以后也未曾获得歌剧院听众的青睐。除脚本作者的平庸之外，伯辽兹本人也难逃其责，他的音乐风格就根本而言不适合歌剧院，他的戏剧才能似乎注定要在交响乐、合唱这些非舞台作品中得到充分展现。能够证明这一点的一个事实在于，虽然歌剧《本韦努托·切里尼》失败了，但它的序曲却在首演当晚即大受欢迎，并且至今仍是音乐会上的序曲杰作。


   《本韦努托·切里尼》序曲有着鲜明的旋律和极富效果的管弦乐配器，它的丰富多彩是对剧中主人公本韦努托·切里尼的生动写照。其中由低音弦乐器拨奏的主题以及在它之后由木管吹奏的柔美旋律均取自歌剧中。但歌剧既已湮没无闻，我们似乎也就不必以歌剧的情节来印证、理解它的序曲，而最好以我们所听到的序曲去想象本韦努托·切里尼和他的传奇生涯。

Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini

Year: 2007
Genre: opera
Director: Philipp Stölz
Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Cast and Crew: Burkhard Fritz (Benvenuto Cellini), Maija Kovalevska (Teresa), Laurent Naouri (Fieramosca), Bridley Sherratt (Giacomo Balducci), Mikhail Petrenko (Pope Clemens VII), Kate Aldrich (Ascanio), Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor, Orchestra de la Comunitat Valenciana

Description:

A mix of futurism à la 'Metropolis,' fantasy à la 'Batman' and quotes from Piranesi's 'Carceri,' juxtaposed in the form of photo montages, enhanced with ... robots, a helicopter, a shark and the winged vehicle of a pop star Pope," effuses critic Marianne Zelger-Vogt (Neue Zürcher Zeitung). The object of her rapture is not a Broadway musical but a French opera written in the 1830s, Hector Berlioz's "Benvenuto Cellini. The absence of the work in the operatic repertoire is certainly due in part to its musical excesses: the work is so complex, richly detailed and prolifically imaginative that Berlioz's contemporaries considered it unplayable and unsingable.

This is resoundingly proven false in the 2007 Salzburg Festival production of director Philipp Stölzl, conductor Valery Gergiev ("the wild man of music") and a high-caliber cast accompanied by the Vienna Philharmonic and its chorus. Stölzl, above all, has poured his experience as director of music videos (for Madonna, Mick Jagger and others), commercials and films into this project, termed "science fiction for Grand Opera".

Recorded live at the Großes Festspielhaus, Salzburg, Austria, 5, 10 & 15 August 2007, as part of the 2007 Salzburg Festival.

Production: US | Naxos
Runtime: 02:43:42