構成数 | 2枚

合計収録時間 | 01:34:00

This set was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for "Best Opera Recording." Although this recording of 'Maria de Buenos Aires' will probably be found in your store's opera section, it might be more at home elsewhere. Described as a "tango operita" by its creators, this work is more closely allied with cabaret and musical theater styles. Maria is the tango personified: born in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, she is drawn into the city's lowlife; after dying there, her shadow is condemned to roam the streets. The story is told in a series of flashbacks and vignettes--the Goblin narrates, and it is he who finally effects Maria's redemption by allowing her to bear a child, also named Maria. Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Musica play this music with an obvious devotion and an earthy elegance appropriate to the music. Argentinean singers Julia Zenko (Maria) and Jairo (all other vocal roles except the Goblin) sing and speak their roles with ease, giving no hint of the fact that they joined this production just a week before it began rehearsals. Librettist Horacio Ferrer rounds out the ensemble in the spoken role of the Goblin, beginning and ending the tale of Maria with a worldly, aged tone as well as participating in the drama in between.