Offenbach: Orpheus In The Underworld / La Vie Parisienne / La Belle Helene [Highlights in English]
£5.97
- Overture
- The Happy Bride Never Stumbles
- You ve Gone Too Far!
- May I Make Myself Known?
- My Death Appears Divinely Smiling
- When Diana Leaves The Mountains
- To Arms!
- When Jupy Feels The Inclination
- Here Comes Orpheus
- When I Was King Of The Boeotians
- I Thought That I Felt On My Shoulder
- What Heavenly Joy Is Mine
- Minuet And Galop
- Overture
- How Sad We ve Made The Marchioness
- Well Isn t That Just Life All Over?
- I m The Guide For Every Tourist
- I Am A Native Of Brazil
- In This Enchanting Queen Of Cities
- I Am A Dab At Carving Pork
- We Have Seen Sights Since Eleven... I m A Colonel s Widow
- Dinner Is Served
Offenbach should be more popular - Well, what a truly pleasant surprise this cd was!The catchiness of Offenbachs melodies -no, I am not referring only to the famous can-can melody which is the most popular reminder of Orpheus - but La Vie Parisienne and La Belle Helene are also full of humour and hummable themes. After all, it was the success of Offenbach which later bore fruit in England with Gilbert & Sullivan composing operettas.Sadlers Wells have made a wonderful recording here with singing of the highest standard, and it is truly a delight to listen to this superb recording of operettas which perhaps should be more popular than they have been.
A wonderful treat for any Offenbach fan - Sadlers Wells opera (now English National Opera) revived these operettas in the 1960 s and they remained in the repertoire for years. I saw Orpheus in the Underworld and La Belle Helene as a teenager and the former many times after that. The listing is misleading because a third operetta La Vie Parisienne is also included. I fell in love with all these recordings in vinyl in my youth and to have them in one package on CD is a wonderful treat for any Offenbach fan. The fact that they are in English in no way detracts as the translations are witty and clever. They are beautifully sung especially by June Bronhill in Orpheus and La Vie. I have never heard the King of the Boeotians song better sung. All in all I cannot recommend this set highly enough.