LEVINAS Le Petit Prince
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Michaël Levinas
Genre:
Opera
Label: Claves
Magazine Review Date: AW17
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 77
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 50 1725
![50 1725. LEVINAS Le Petit Prince](https://reviews.azureedge.net/gramophone/media-thumbnails/levinas_petit_prince.jpg)
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Le Petit Prince |
Michaël Levinas, Composer
Alexandre Diakoff, Le Roi, Bass-baritone Arie van Beek, Conductor Benoit Capt, Le vaniteux; Le Financier; Le Geographe, Baritone Catherine Trottmann, La Rose, Mezzo soprano Cèline Soudain, Las Rose multiple Jeanne Crousaud, Le Petit Prince, Soprano Michaël Levinas, Composer Orchestre de Picardie Patrick Lapp, Narrator Rodrigo Ferreira, Le Renard; Le Serpent Serge Bertocchi Vincent Lièvre-Picard, L'Aviateur, Tenor |
Author: Andrew Mellor
To be frank, reviewing Michaël Levinas’s Le petit prince with only an 18-year-old scraped French A level and Wikipedia’s plot summary of the admittedly very famous book on which it is based posed quite a headache. It would have been far harder if the principal singers on this live recording of the opera’s transfer to Paris in February 2015 didn’t enunciate with such clarity.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s semi-autobiographical novella tells of a pilot crashing to earth, whereupon he meets the titular prince. The two share various experiences and encounters through which they seek internal peace and some understanding of the world. The ultimate message is, apparently, enshrined in the fox’s observation that ‘one sees clearly only with the heart’. Much of the book’s resonance and reputation comes from its concealing of complex existential questions within riddle and symbolism. Converting that into an opera for children is anything but child’s play.
To my semi-adult ears, which are admittedly unable to draw any solid parallels between text and music beyond the obvious, Levinas’s score is intriguing, evocative, original and frequently beautiful. Its highly coloured recitative style might be compared to Francesco Cavalli’s, and the voices are pitted against vivid writing for ensemble founded squarely on modernist techniques (often atonal, hints of spectralism, lots of clustering and microtonalism, some knowing stylistic pastiche and some absurdist tendencies). Two keyboardists superimpose the above with overlapping broken chords from a prescribed harmonic grid. The vocal writing has clarity at its heart and is exceptionally delivered here, particularly by Jeanne Crousaud in the title-role. But an opera for children? In that regard, it’s Levinas who could do with coming down to earth.
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