Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Lyrical and haunting, 7 Sep 2002
By A Customer
My first real exposure to Philip Glass was an extract from this opera on a magazine sample CD. It stayed lodged in my mind for many years until I took the plunge and bought the CD. The soundtrack is also available on the boxed set 'Philip on Film'.I wasn't disappointed. Glass' music is captivating and catches the haunted quality of Cocteau's film, from which Glass took the inspiration for his opera. For the total experience, buy the video as well, and with the odd pause on your remote control when the timing slips you can synchronise the soundtrack to the film dialogue. I found the combining of the two produced a synergistically powerful effect, but the CD alone is also a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours. 'Bete' doesn't seem to have gathered the adulation of 'Einstein on the Beach' etc., perhaps as it is/was so rarely performed, but this is no excuse for not enjoying it at home.
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one of Glass' best opera scores, 2 April 2007
Originally billed as a chamber opera when it came out on account that it is scored for the Philip Glass Ensemble rather than a full orchestra, this is a piece of music made to accompany the celebrated 1946 film by Jean Cocteau of the classic "Beauty and the Beast" story. In Cocteau's film, a bankrupted merchant returning home gets lost in a mysterious forest during a stormy night and takes refuge in an enchanted castle. Taking a rose for his youngest daughter Belle on the way out, he is surprised by the castle's occupant, a lion-like beast in human shape, who informs him that the penalty for stealing a rose is death and that either the merchant, or his daughter, must return to pay the price. Belle willingly goes and, although repulsed by the beast's looks, gradually becomes fond of him. The libretto is sung in french and comprises the dialogue of the original film. The music is probably Glass' most lyrical score, with some synthesizer parts and sounds that recall his earlier "Airplanes on the Roof". This lends an other-wordly, etherial air to some sections set in the castle - check out clip 5 from Disc 1 on Amazon where the merchant explores the castle. The libretto is beautifully sung by the soloists, especially the "Promenade dans le jardin" between Belle and La Bete that opens Act II (as with "Akhnaten", it's a case of a strong and poignant melody opening the second half of a Glass opera).
Live staging of the film accompanied by the PGE is rare (I was lucky enough to see it during the Barbican's "Film Music of Philip Glass" season in London several years ago. You can turn down your TV sound and play the DVD of the film at the same time but, as another reviewer noted, the music is not in sync with the film (and of course, singing a line is different to saying it). I found I needed to pause the film or CD fairly often to get the two back into sync. Still, not impossible, though a little distracting. What we need now is a new release of the film with the Glass score, as was done for the restored release of "Dracula".
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