On this CD:
1. Siddharta, opera
Composed by Per Norgard
Performed by Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra
with Hans Christian Andersen, Stig Fogh Andersen, Christian Christiansen, Poul Elming, Carsten Engstrom, Peter Fog, Anne Frellesvig, Birgitte Frieboe, Edith Guillaume, Erik Harbo, Aage Haugland, Hanna Hjort
2. Concerto for percussion & orchestra "For a Change"
Composed by Per Norgard
Performed by Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra
with Gert Mortensen
Conducted by Jan Latham-Koenig
Per Nørgard: Siddharta, Music, Aage Haugland, Per Norgard, Jan Latham-Koenig, Danmarks Radiosymfoniorkester, Gert Mortensen, Anne Frellesvig, Birgitte Frieboe, Carsten Engstrom, Christian Christiansen, Edith Guillaume, Effie Thing-Simonsen, Erik Harbo, Hanna Hjort, Hanna Orvad, Hans Christian Andersen, Hedwig Rummel, Kim Janken, Minna Nyhus, Peter Fog, Poul Elming, Stig Fogh Andersen, Tina Kiberg, Classical, Concerto, Opera, Percussion Concerto, Scandinavian 20th/21st Century Opera
Average customer rating: 
|
Per Nørgard: Siddharta
Manufacturer: Marco Polo ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD  General
| Concertos
| Forms & Genres
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
Percussion
| Instruments
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Opera & Vocal
| Styles
| Music
Scandinavian Languages
| Languages
| Opera & Vocal
| Styles
| Music
ASIN: B000004673 Release Date: 1995-09-19 |
Tracks:
Tracks:
Customer Reviews:
What Pleasure is Built on the Pain of Others?.......2003-10-02
Siddhartha continues Norgard's mystical interests and examinations of crucial points in human history. Interestingly, Norgard spends his time in this opera on the early life of Siddhartha, beginning in the first act with his miraculous birth and the prophecy that he would either become a great king or the savior of the world. In an attempt to keep his son attached to worldly pleasure, his father decrees that all the sick, infirm or deformed should be locked in a dungeon under the palace. The second act deals with Siddhartha's budding sense that all is not right, though his marriage to Yasodhara lulls him back into his world of pleasurable illusion. Finally in the last act, the facade falls away as Siddhartha witnesses illness and death first hand and the millions looked away in the dungeons are let out once again. After a crisis of sanity, Siddhartha realizes his destiny is to find a way for all beings to be released from suffering and he leaves the palace forever.
The libretto, written by esteemed Danish poet Ole Sarvig, is full of lush imagery. The central image of the opera, the palace of pleasure built on the unseen suffering of the millions, is extremely powerful. This powerful verbal and visual image is reinforced in Norgard's brilliant music. Siddhartha is Norgard's final extension of his 1970s neo-romantic period. All material in the opera is developed from manipulations of the composer's famed infinity series...a sort of musical fractal procedure, which creates, and endless series of varied and yet related melodic patterns. Rhythms are calculated from proportions based on the Golden Section. The result is anything but mathematical. Rather the score, particularly in the first act, is lush and sensuous, as befitting the illusory pleasure palace constructed for Siddhartha's benefit. As the work continues, the music gains a darker edge, until in the last act; Siddhartha's madness is suggested by wildly swinging musical moods and violently dissonant passages. The final bars of the opera introduce material that is radically new, symbolizing the hero's journey into a new world of possibility.
One of the things that impress so much about this opera is that Norgard and Sarvig don't attempt to create "spiritual" music in the sort of New Age way that is popular now. This opera is spiritual, but it is a spirituality that recognizes human pain, rather than trying to anesthetize it. The central philosophic question, how can one remain unpricked by conscience when all the beauty one enjoys is at the expense of the pain of others, is as Western as it is Eastern. There is no, "Eastern retreat from the world" in the opera. In fact, Norgard and Sarvig seem to understand that the European concept of Buddhism's "retreat from the world" is an incorrect understanding of the religion, which is motivated from deep engagement with the suffering of humanity, not retreat from it. As a result, this opera is more honest, more deeply felt, and moves one more than many other works that wear their "spirituality" on their sleeves. Highly recommended.
Music Review:
Recommended Music:
Lover-Fighter [Explicit Lyrics] [Extra tracks] [Import]
Music: Champions of Rock-N-Roll disc 2
Day Before Tomorrow [CD-single] [Import]