Credits:

Mozart, W.a.

Description:

A project of Jacobs! Purcell's "King Arthur," first performed in 1691, is a representative work of the genre known as "dramatic opera" or "semi-opera," a collaboration between the poet John Dryden and Purcell. Dryden's patriotic poem tells the story of King Arthur's heroism, while Purcell's story is a dramatic one, and the music alternates between independent orchestral music, solo singing, chorus, and dance. In addition, as a performance edition by Jacobs, this work takes a unique approach by using a bold meta-drama technique to overlap the story of the old English-Saxon war, which is read to the 8-year-old King Arthur on his birthday by his grandfather after he loses his father in the First World War. The singing part in this video is original. In this video, the singing parts are sung in the original English, while the dialogue is performed in German by the actors. The singers are given multiple roles, with soprano Annette Fritsch, with her powerful voice and occasional airwalking, singing six roles, and the expressive baritone Johannes Weisser singing seven different roles, a difficult task. The stage direction by the master musician Bechtolph, with its delicate lighting reminiscent of a deep forest, singers dancing in the air, actors wearing large headdresses, and colorful stage sets, is full of various elaborate and endlessly fascinating effects.The outstanding performance of the contours of the Berlin Academy of Ancient Music under the direction of Jacobs, who has the entire work in his hands, and the outstanding singing team bring Purcell's theatrical opera back to life in a new light. Naxos Japan