Bernstein Century - Debussy: Le Martyre De Saint Sébastian

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This is a one-of-a-kind recording of a strange work. The lurid legend of Saint Sebastian, the beautiful young man who spurned the advances of Emperor Diocletian and was summarily tied to a tree and executed by a firing squad of archers, has attracted the more prurient attentions of artists for centuries. When Claude Debussy and writer Gabriele d'Annunzio decided to present the myth in a gigantic, five-hour multimedia extravaganza with singing, recitation, mime and dance, something weird was bound to happen. Two weeks before the premiere, the Vatican banned D'Annunzio's works, and the Archbishop of Paris forbid Catholics from attending. 'Le Martyre de Saint Sebastian' was a tremendous flop, has not been staged since and is only heard in various fragmentary forms which reveal some of Debussy's more interesting and forward-looking music. This disc contains an oratorio treatment with translation by Leonard Bernstein himself and the spoken part of the Saint taken by Bernstein's wife, Felicia Montelegre.



Product Description:


  • Catalog Number: SONY 60596


  • UPC: 074646059623


  • Label: Sony


  • Composer: Claude Debussy


  • Conductor: Leonard Bernstein


  • Orchestra/Ensemble: Choral Art Society, New York Philharmonic


  • Performer: Adele Addison, Felicia Montealegre, Fritz Weaver, Joanna Simon, Marlena Kleinman, Virginia Babikian



Works:


  1. Le martyre de St Sébastien

    Composer: Claude Debussy

    Ensemble: Choral Art Society, New York Philharmonic

    Performer: Adele Addison (Soprano), Virginia Babikian (Soprano), Marlena Kleinman (Mezzo Soprano), Felicia Montealegre (Spoken Vocals), Joanna Simon (Mezzo Soprano), Fritz Weaver (Spoken Vocals)

    Conductor: Leonard Bernstein