Monteverdi: Orfeo

Following on logically from his complete cycle of Monteverdi madrigals, Paul Agnew - here both conductor and stage director - presents his intimate and "'sacred"' version of the composer"'s first opera (and the first great opera in musical history). In a fine collective spirit, the singers and instrumentalists of Les Arts Florissants participate in the drama on equal terms, mingling in a single set that gives increased prominence to the (masterly) lighting and to the protagonists (overwhelmingly moving in their restrained movements and expressions): we are transported to the very heart of Monteverdi"'s masterpiece, as if we had fallen into a painting by Nicolas Poussin, caught up in the mystical adventure of two lovers more mythical than ever. BLURAY+DVD