Trilogie de la Mort

Track Listings

1. Kyema (61:22)

2. Kailasha (56:08)

3. Koum (51:17)

Editorial Reviews
Kyle Gann, The Village Voice
One of the 20th century's great fanatics, Radigue spent eight years handcreafting this three-hour, three-disc, Tibetan-inspired, death-transcending elegy for her son, and if you're not a deep listener, all you'll hear is a hum. Overtones of gently pulsing drones are Radigue's themes, but her sweep is symphonic. Biooming bass tones test the limits of your loudspeakers, and withing them string orchestras and bagpipes seem to play dirgesbut everything is analogue electronics. When the music goes from sweet to sad, or from roaring climax to pure quiet in the final half-hour, the change is so imperceptibly gradual that it sweeps you along all the more. You have to slow your day way down just to begin appreciating this, and that's not a bad idea."

Julian Cowley, The Wire
Taken separately, "Songs of Milarepa" and "Trilogie de la Mort" stand as landmarks of minimalism; together, they confirm Eliane Radigue as a unique and major voice in contemporary music.... "Trilogie De La Mort," an extended sonic meditation on death and birth, is arguably still more impressive. "Kailasha," the second part, traces a turbulent imaginary journey around the most sacred mountain in the Himalayas, a route reputed to lead into other spheres of being. Radigue's notes to "Koum," the... read more

Trilogie de la Mort

Amazon.com

Sir Colin Davis has long been considered the world's finest Berlioz conductor, and over the years, Philips has released all of the composer's major works with Davis at the helm. Now, they're all here, in a 24-CD box, and it is an astonishing achievement. This treasure trove consists of the definitive, available readings of Les Troyens, Béatrice et Bénédict, and Benvenuto Cellini; a wonderfully energetic, passionate Roméo et Juliette; a Te Deum which is huge yet clear and not over-the-top for its own sake; Les Nuits d'été with different singers (of varying ranges in different songs), as Berlioz wanted them performed; the young Dame Janet Baker superb in Herminie and La Mort de Cléopatre; a relaxed, sweet Enfance du Christ; a Requiem which could knock you over; a Damnation de Faust which is both lyrical and exciting; a performance of Lélio which almost makes sense of that strange work; a Symphonie Fantastiquewith atmosphere and thrills; along with 7 overtures, 5 songs, and more. In addition to the moderate price, the packaging is such that the 24 CDs takes up less space than just the earlier releases of Cellini and Troyens together. This is one-stop shopping at its best. --Robert Levine

Berlioz - Sacred Music (L'Enfance du Christ · Requiem) · Symphony Dramas (Roméo et Juliette · La damnation de Faust) · Orchestral Songs (Les nuits dété · Lélio · La mort de Cléopâtre) / Sir Colin Davis

Average customer rating:

Some of the best of the Davis cycle
Limited edition set of Sir Colin Davis doing Berlioz

Berlioz - Sacred Music (L'Enfance du Christ · Requiem) · Symphony Dramas (Roméo et Juliette · La damnation de Faust) · Orchestral Songs (Les nuits dété · Lélio · La mort de Cléopâtre) / Sir Colin Davis
Hector Berlioz , Colin Davis , Janet Baker , Nicolai Gedda , London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus , John Alldis Choir, Thomas Allen Philip Langridge José Carreras Ambrosian Singer , and Joseph Rouleau, Josephine Veasey, Gillian Knight Eric Tappy Jules Bastin
Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Requiems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Te Deum | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Box Sets | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00000C2FD
Release Date: 1998-01-01

Customer Reviews:

Some of the best of the Davis cycle.......2004-01-11

Of the three boxes of reissues form Colin Davis' pioneering Berlioz cycle, this is probably the one I would not want to be without more than the other two boxes. But I suppose that's because I dearly love more of the works in this set than the works in the orchestral works box or the opera box. The major works (La Damnation de Faust, Requiem, Romeo et Juliette, and L'Enfance du Christ) are in the eyes of many unmatched by any other recordings. And many would say that about the orchestral songs too. My only quibble is with some of the track editing in La Damnation de Faust, my favorite item in the box. The recording is analog in origin, much to its credit personally. Several track changes sound like old tape-joins though. Clean it up Philips! These classics deserve better treatment.
Documentation is minimal of course.

Limited edition set of Sir Colin Davis doing Berlioz.......1999-02-15

A complete review of this set will follow at a later date. What I wish to highlight here is that this set contains Davis's reading of Berlioz's Requiem, though it is not listed as part of the contents in Amazon's description. (I've submitted a suggestion that it be added.) Those genuinely interested in Berlioz's sacred music will probably know this recording, which is justly famous for its dramatic power, and for a depth that Davis, above anyone else, consistently achieves in Berlioz. The Davis recording has recently gone out of print as a single item and is now available only as part of this set, which is limited edition. Practically, that means most record stores will not be able to order it, and that the set may not be available for long. These considerations, as well as Davis's peerless interpretations of the other items in the set, make this collection valuable indeed. Berlioz fans would regret protracted indecision.

Average customer rating:

La Mort D'Ophelie
Berlioz , Tetu , and Lyon National Orchestra & Chorus
Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music

4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00007EEK3
Release Date: 2003-05-13

Average customer rating:

Outstanding

Trilogie de la Mort

Manufacturer: Experimental Intermed
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Songs of Milarepa
Adnos I-III

ASIN: B00000JWPT
Release Date: 1998-09-01

Tracks:

Kyema (61:22)
Kailasha (56:08)
Koum (51:17)

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding.......2006-04-07

Radigue's sonic investigation into life, death, and life elsewhere after death is incredibly captured in these 3 discs. Beautiful for huge, long journeys and quiet nights alone.

Average customer rating:

Berlioz the Antiquarian?
A note on 'La Mort de Cleopatre', above all else...
Best Available Recording
It is a dud: always was a dud and always will be a dud.
Five Stars for L'Enfance du Christ...

Berlioz: L'Enfance Du Christ

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Choruses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Delalande - Te Deum /Gens * Piau * Steyer * Fouchecourt * Piolino * Correas * Les Arts Florissants * Christie
Berlioz: Complete Orchestral Works
Haydn: The Seasons
Furtwangler Conducts Brahms - Complete Symphonies, etc / North German RSO, Berlin PO
Mozart: Violin Concertos

ASIN: B0000041K1
Release Date: 1997-06-10

Tracks:

Meditation religieuse - Hector Berlioz
La Mort d'Ophelie - Hector Berlioz
L'Enfance du Christ: Part I: Le Songe d'Herode: Dans la creche, en ce temps - Hector Berlioz
L'Enfance du Christ: Part I: Le Songe d'Herode: Toujours ce reve! - Hector Berlioz
L'Enfance du Christ: Part I: Le Songe d'Herode: Seigneur!... Laches, tremblez! - Hector Berlioz
L'Enfance du Christ: Part I: Le Songe d'Herode: Eh bien, par le fer qu'ils perissent! - Hector Berlioz
L'Enfance du Christ: Part I: Le Songe d'Herode: O mon cher fils - Hector Berlioz
L'Enfance du Christ: Part I: Le Songe d'Herode: Joseph! Marie! - Hector Berlioz
L'Enfance du Christ: Part II: La Fuite en Egypte: Ouverture - Hector Berlioz
L'Enfance du Christ: Part II: La Fuite en Egypte: Il s'en va loin de la terre - Hector Berlioz
L'Enfance du Christ: Part II: La Fuite en Egypte: Les pelerins etant venus - Hector Berlioz

Tracks:

L'Enfance du Christ: Depuis trois jours - H. Berlioz
L'Enfance du Christ: Dans cette ville immense - H. Berlioz
L'Enfance du Christ: Entrez, entrez, pauvres Hebreux - H. Berlioz
L'Enfance du Christ: Sur vos traits fatigues - H. Berlioz
L'Enfance du Christ: Trio pour deux flutes et harpe - H. Berlioz
L'Enfance du Christ: Vous pleurez, jeune mere - H. Berlioz
L'Enfance du Christ: Ce fut ainsi que par un infidele - H. Berlioz
Sara la baigneuse - H. Berlioz
La Mort de Cleopatre: C'en est donc fait! - H. Berlioz
La Mort de Cleopatre: Ah! qu'ils sont loin ces jours - H. Berlioz
La Mort de Cleopatre: Au comble des revers - H. Berlioz
La Mort de Cleopatre: Grands Pharaons, nobles Lagides - H. Berlioz
La Mort de Cleopatre: Non! De vos demeures funebres - H. Berlioz

Customer Reviews:

Berlioz the Antiquarian?.......2003-03-08

In his Memoirs, Berlioz (almost casually) speaks to the effect of L'enfance enjoying such a spontaneous success, as to insult his earlier compositions. It is such a restrained, contemplative work -- and this seems so unusual in Berlioz -- that it almost sounds a backhanded compliment, to find that it was Brahms' favorite Berlioz score. But if we disregard comparisons like, it's much more intimate in focus than Les Troyens, it is emotionally muted compared to Romeo & Juliet, hardly anything happens in comparison to Faust -- and take the piece on its own terms, we find a beautiful mid-nineteenth-century French answer to the Bach Cantata, a piece which is simply a delight to the ear. It is the gentlest of musical jokes, that the overture to "The Flight to Egypt" begins with fugal writing (for "fugue" comes from the Latin for "flight"); but the fact is that Berlioz wrote a number of fughetto passages in the instrumental sections of this masterpiece, which seems to me to magnify the homage aspect of the work; perhaps it is the Berlioz equivalent of Brahms' (more thorough and studied, perhaps) explorations of "early music." Typically of Berlioz, for despite his fame for bombast and grand gesture he always had a marvelous ear for delicate textures, one of the piece's most striking moments is a trio for two flutes and harp. We love this recording.

A note on 'La Mort de Cleopatre', above all else..........2001-08-17

The price alone makes this disc more than competitive with the best of any such performances, containing as it does highly enjoyable performances of each of these presented works. For those lured to this disc primarily by 'L'enface du Christ', however, I feel special atteniton must be made instead for the performance of 'La Mort de Cleopatre', which I feel for most people would tend to get overshadowed by the larger work. For indeed, 'Cleopatre' is a masterpiece. Long viewed as something of a hidden gem by both singers, conductors, and connoiseurs alike, the work is today enjoying increased popularity due to the sudden influx of star mezzo-sopranos. Indeed, today it has become a valued and featured staple in the concert repertory of Anne Sofie Von Otter, Olga Borodina, Ewa Podles, Jennifer Larmore, Michelle DeYoung and Vesselina Kasarova. And this really isn't surprising, considering that one hearing of the work reveals a composition so absolutely ripe with opportunities for a singer with a flair for the intense and a taste for the visceral to really sink her teeth into. Regarding this cd... unlike most other performances of this work, this recording features a definite soprano, Anne Pashley, over the more common mezzo. And fortunately, the lack of a chest register as imposing as those found in most of the mezzos, as well as the sopranos-with-decided-mezzo capabilities who are her recording counterparts (Jessye Norman, Rosalind Plowright), is a barely noticeable factor in Ms. Pashleys performance here. And the presence of a singer capable of cresting the summits of the soprano top notes that ARE contained in the work (which many a mezzo must desperately lunge for) is a definite advantage. Compare Pashley's attack on the phrases 'fille de Tolomei' or 'm'elencai triomphante' to that of Tourel or the later Baker. Both of the latter are so wonderful in their searingly intense ways, and if Ms. Pashley misses the extra degree of intensity found (and made famous) by these women, it is not by much, and here there is no tentative approach to these notes. But anybody who listens to any recording of this work is to be rewarded. And indeed, Janet Baker (especially the earlier recording, in my opinion, in which the top was fearless), Yvonne Minton, Jessye Norman (twice, like Baker), Jennie Tourel, Beatrice Uria-Monzon, Dunja Vejovich, and Rosalind Plowright have each brought their own special gifts to this searing and profound work on disc. There is also a live performance of the work readily available on the internet by another definite soprano, Veronique Gens, which is incredible. Ms. Gens is absolutely superb, and the feeling of a live performance only enhances things. Seek this out, if you can. But do not hesitate regarding anything involving this work- its attributes are innumerable and more than speak for themself.

Best Available Recording.......2001-07-31

This is the best available recording to my mind of L'Enfance. Peter Pears is terrific and the choir is excellent as has been noted earlier. Anne Pashley rivals Minton and Baker (my favorite) as Cleopatre, although I rank Bernstein's the most exciting (I forget the soloist). Do not hesitate to buy this although if it's really cheap you want the Naxos account is surprisingly good. I must note however that [...] L'Enfance du Christ is NOT a cello concerto.

It is a dud: always was a dud and always will be a dud........2001-06-05

It was high time I retracted what I said by the first of October, 2000 about this recording which simply didn't really merit even the slightest suggestion by me to the effect that anyone should buy it for any reason, when I did it the other night so I'm glad I did it. However, in the process to say about it that was deservedly unfavorable, I listed a few composers whose orchestral works, sonatas, instumental solos, suites, concertos, vocal and choral works, operas, and quartets and quintets are so much more to my liking than this one, of all of which of which I actually have recordings. The possible exception was Dvorak's Cello Concerto, that, if still on my list as of when I submitted the review to Amazon.com, which it may have been, because I had thought to buy a recording of it some time earlier, hoping that I might like it enough, but deciding thereafter not to purchase because I did not really want IT, either, because, as far as I am concerned, it, too, just isn't good enough, should NOT have been. That is just to say, therefore, that I may have made the mistake of including this work, when it should have been excluded, from my list of some of my favorite composers' most often played and most appreciated compositions. It never belonged on this list, and still doesn't. Other than this comment which has to be made if the Cello Concerto wasn't removed from my list before I submitted it, which I hope it was, my review stands. Period. THE END.

Five Stars for L'Enfance du Christ..........2000-10-02

I got this mainly for L'Enfance du Christ, and for the price, I'm satisfied. (L'Enfance was recorded in London in 1960 and Mediation, Ophelie, Sara, and Cleopatre were recorded in 1967.) Not every good recording has to be the most expensive, and this one, for the price, is worth it. However, (for the price...) there is no text/libretto provided which makes it crucially important that not only does everyone sing in French well (everyone does) but that everyone's diction in French be superb, which it is, especially in L'Enfance du Christ. This means that L'Enfance du Christ is extremely understandable--and frankly I found it more so than the other works which were nevertheless varyingly comprehensible (all somewhat understandable, at least) as of a first/second listening (only). The linear notes do provide a synnopsis of L'Enfance du Christ as well as brief descriptions of the other works and backround information as to their composition as well as a little biographical information about the composer. That, however, is it. That said, L'Enfance du Christ (and this is my first recording of it) is beautiful and, in my opinion, very well performed all senses and by everyone involved. And Sara la baigneuse, which is only about 7 minutes long, seems quite lovely (it is a setting of a poem by Victor Hugo). However, there are other recordings of L'Enfance du Christ which: 1. cost more 2. may be better (and have been favorably reviewed by people who are knowledgable which I really am not) 3. don't have the four additional works (of which La Mort de Cleopatre is the longest) 4. I hope provide the complete text/libretto in French and in English at least (as I might wind up with one of them eventually). However, I do recommed this one in the meantime, expecially if you want a good one that costs less. This really does seem to be quite a good bargain.