Gluck’s two Euripedes-inspired Iphigénie operas made for a visually and musically stunning double bill in a 2011 production by Pierre Audi at the Amsterdam Music Theatre, highlighting the dramatic unity between Iphigénie en Aulide and follow-up Iphigénie en Tauride. This latter opera has remained popular since its resoundingly successful 1779 Paris premiere, representing the height of Gluck’s operatic reforms: a renewed emphasis on dramatic arc and thematic unity, coupled with clear vocal lines stripped of Baroque ornamentation. The celebrated Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble under Marc Minkowski set the scene as formidable soloists Mireille Delunsch, Laurent Alvaro, and Jean-François Lapointe bring pathos and lyricism to this “crowning achievement of Gluck’s career” (Grove Music).
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