Name: Bartók: Duke Bluebeard's Castle
Price: 17.75 USD
Availability: InStock

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Canellakis, her expressive singers and the feisty Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra definitely give value for money, with the one caveat that Shaham’s voice sometimes doesn’t stand out... — The Times, 31st March 2025, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 4th Apr 2025
Catalogue No: PTC5187225
Label: Pentatone
Length: 61 minutes

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Bartók: Duke Bluebeard's Castle, Sz. 48, Op. 11

Work length1:01:48

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Album only

This work is only available as an album download.

Album only

This work is only available as an album download.

Album only

This work is only available as an album download.

Gábor Bretz (bass), Rinat Shaham (soprano)
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Karina Canellakis

Prologue - Introduction, entering the castle

Track length16:20

Album only

This track is only available as an album download.

Album only

This track is only available as an album download.

Album only

This track is only available as an album download.

Album only

This track is only available as an album download.

First Door, the Torture Chamber

Track length4:37

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

Second Door, the Armoury

Track length4:21

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

Third Door, the Treasury

Track length2:25

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

Fourth Door, the Garden

Track length5:00

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

Fifth Door, Bluebeard's Kingdom

Track length6:40

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

Sixth Door, the Lake of Tears

Track length13:28

$2.15

$2.60

$3.20

Seventh Door, Bluebeard's Former Wives

Track length8:57

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

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The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and its chief conductor Karina Canellakis continue their Bartók journey with the composer’s only opera, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, starring mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham (Judith) and bass-baritone Gábor Bretz (Bluebeard). One man, one woman, and a dark castle with seven mysterious doors are all it takes to create a psychological thriller full of suspense and intense emotion. Karina Canellakis and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra received a Grammy nomination for their recording of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and 4 Orchestral Pieces, which BBC Music Magazine praised as “enticing and brilliantly engineered”, while Gramophone lauded how orchestra and conductor “paint the soundscapes with both finesse and fire.” For Canellakis, Bartók’s opera recorded here is “an homage to life itself, to life’s brevity and fleeting beauty, to being human, to love, and to death.”

Internationally acclaimed for her emotionally charged performances, technical command and interpretive depth, Karina Canellakis has become one of the most in-demand conductors of her generation. She returns to PENTATONE as Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra continuing their Bartók cycle that began with the aforementioned Concerto for Orchestra in 2023. Rinat Shaham and Gabor Bretz are sought after by the world’s greatest opera houses and have long-standing experience performing Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle with various orchestras and conductors around the world.

Reviews

31st March 2025

Canellakis, her expressive singers and the feisty Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra definitely give value for money, with the one caveat that Shaham’s voice sometimes doesn’t stand out enough from the surrounding orchestra. But the opera’s brooding power remains and Canellakis is a very good conductor.

Record Review 5th April 2025

Canellakis seems to have such sympathy for the intensity of Bartok’s orchestral writing at ever dynamic level which is why this is my Record of the Week

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