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Special offer. Handel: Saul
Christopher Purves (Saul), Iestyn Davies (David), Lucy Crowe (Merab), Sophie Bevan (Michal), Paul Appleby (Jonathan), Benjamin Hulett (High Priest) & John Graham-Hall (Witch of Endor)
The Glyndebourne Chorus & Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Ivor Bolton (conductor) & Barrie...
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2016
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Opera, December 2015, Recording of the Month
Pivotal is Christopher Purves’s Saul – surely the father-in-law from hell should the Goliath-slaying David choose his daughter Michal (or son Jonathan – tenderly sung by Paul Appleby). Purves...
Special offer. Handel: Saul
Christopher Purves (Saul), Iestyn Davies (David), Lucy Crowe (Merab), Sophie Bevan (Michal), Paul Appleby (Jonathan), Benjamin Hulett (High Priest) & John Graham-Hall (Witch of Endor)
The Glyndebourne Chorus & Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Ivor Bolton (conductor) & Barrie...
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Awards:
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2016
-
Opera, December 2015, Recording of the Month
Pivotal is Christopher Purves’s Saul – surely the father-in-law from hell should the Goliath-slaying David choose his daughter Michal (or son Jonathan – tenderly sung by Paul Appleby). Purves...
About
Glyndebourne’s Saul stole the summer and had critics raving. The Guardian (****) applauded ‘virtuoso stagecraft’ from director Barrie Kosky in his debut production there, calling the show ‘a theatrical and musical feast of energetic choruses, surreal choreography and gorgeous singing’. For The Independent, which ranked it amongst five top classical and opera performances of 2015, there was ‘no praise too high’ for the cast. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Ivor Bolton sparkles from the pit with period panache, and designer Katrin Lea Tag’s ‘exuberant costumes’ (The Times ****) set the Old Testament story in Handel’s time, with a witty twinge of the contemporary.
Running time: 185 minutes
Subtitles: EN/FR/DE/KO
Sound format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS
Extra Features: A Descent Into Madness, Colour and Texture - An Musical Insight and a Cast Gallery.
Spotlight on this release
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Christopher Purves on Glyndebourne's Saul
5th Jul 2016
Katherine talks to the bass-baritone about singing the title-role in Barrie Kosky's staging of Handel's oratorio.
Awards and reviews
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Presto Recordings of the YearFinalist 2016
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OperaDecember 2015Recording of the Month
September 2016
Pivotal is Christopher Purves’s Saul – surely the father-in-law from hell should the Goliath-slaying David choose his daughter Michal (or son Jonathan – tenderly sung by Paul Appleby). Purves has always done rage and menace to the manner born, but his slide into ever-deepening madness is terrifying…his is a tour de force to rival the diametrically opposed inscrutable calm that is Iestyn Davies’s David…taut musical direction from Ivor Bolton consolidates a Glyndebourne bullseye
June 2016
energetic, highly coloured entertainment
January 2017
Christopher Purves is utterly consumed by his role as Saul...Iestyn Davies is vocally outstanding as David, with his customary melting melismas.
