Les Troyens

Monumental operas deserve epochal stagings. And ‘Les Troyens’ by Hector Berlioz is such a work. This grand opera, complete with ensembles and ballets, large choruses and orchestral set pieces, is given an appropriately grand treatment in this production by the renowned Catalan theater group ‘La Fura dels Baus’ recorded at Valencia’s Palau de les Arts. In this coproduction with St. Petersburg’s Mariinski Theater and Warsaw’s Wielki Theater, the Fura’s director, Carlus Padrissa, has gathered around him his faithful collaborators Franc Aleu (video), Roland Olbeter (sets), Chu Uroz (costumes) and Peter van Praet (lighting) who crafted Valencia’s sensational ‘Ring des Nibelungen’ (also available from UNITEL ). ‘That this is such a feast for the eyes, a veritable orgy of optical opulence, is due to the sheer inexhaustible fantasy and creativeness of the Catalan artist group’ (Das Opernglas).