Adolphe Adam: Orfa - Romantic Ballet in Two Acts
8.574478 (Naxos Records, CD)
FIRST RELEASE (26 May 2023)
Tracks: 8
Booklet pages: 8
℗ 2023 Naxos Rights (Europe) Ltd
© 2023 Naxos Rights (Europe) Ltd
Main country of recording: Bulgaria
Reviewer: Gerald Fenech
Review of Adolphe Adam: Orfa - Romantic Ballet in Two Acts published on 14 June 2023
Kalina Hristova, concertmaster, violin solos (tracks 6 and 8)
Vesela Trichkova, harp (tracks 1, 5, 7 and 8)
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra
Dario Salvi, conductor
Adolphe Adam (1803-1856):
Orfa - Romantic Ballet in Two Acts (1852)
Act I
1 Introduction: Le Rendez-vous (The Gathering)
2 Pas de trois: Les Scandinaves (The Scandinavians)
3 Pas de deux: Les Fiancés (The Betrothed)
4 Mazurka: Les Traîneaux (The Sledges)
5 Après le divertissement (After the entertainment)
Act II
6 Les Séductions (The Seductions)
7 Deuxième partie du deuxième acte (Act II Part 2)
8 Pas de deux et Apothéose (Duet and Apotheosis)
Orfa was Adolphe Adam's penultimate ballet, with an intriguing scenario based on Nordic mythology. It shares analogies with Hesiod's Theogony and Wagner's Ring cycle in depicting the struggle between the older gods (Loki) and younger gods (Odin). Full of archetypal Romantic elements, Orfa was mounted with the lavish stage spectacle for which the Paris Opera was famous, and featured Fanny Cerrito in the title role. Adam's writing shows increasingly vivid orchestral imagination, drama and tonal colour, with roles for several instrumental soloists. This first recording uses a new edition copied from Adam's original manuscript score held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Recorded 15 April (tracks 2-5) and 16 April (tracks 1 and 6-8) 2022 at Bulgaria Hall, Sofia, Bulgaria. First recording.