Glass : The Perfect American

23,93€ – 26,29€

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[ DVD – BLU-RAY ]

The final days of Walt Disney, between the American dream and an intimate descent into disquiet, under the hypnotic gaze of Philip Glass.

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Description

About

Glass : The Perfect American

The final days of Walt Disney, between the American dream and an intimate sense of vertigo, under the hypnotic gaze of Philip Glass.

A leading figure in contemporary creation, Philip Glass turns the final days of Walt Disney into the starting point of a fascinating opera, poised between biography and fiction. Created and filmed during its first performances in Madrid in 2013, The Perfect American explores the final chapter of the creator of Mickey Mouse, confronted with illness and his own mortality, in a striking intertwining of historical reality and fictional imagination.

Driven by Phelim McDermott’s spectacular staging, whose visual universe echoes Disney’s own aesthetic legacy, the work unfolds with compelling theatrical power. In the pit, Dennis Russell Davies, a long-standing champion of Glass’s music, conducts a hypnotic and finely crafted score, where repetition becomes dramatic tension and music seems to quite literally bring images to life.

Moving between fascination for a global cultural icon and an intimate descent into fragility, The Perfect American offers a striking meditation on creation, celebrity, and the end of an era.

Distribution

Glass : The Perfect American [DVD & Blu-ray]

Opera in two acts

Music : Philip Glass (1937*)
Libretto : Rudy Wurlitzer, after Peter Stephan Jungk’s novel

Walt Disney : Christopher Purves
Roy : David Pittsinger
Dantine : Donald Kaasch
Hazel George : Janis Kelly
Lillian Disney : Marie McLaughlin
Sharon : Sarah Tynan
Diane : Nazan Fikret
Lucy / Josh : Rosie Lomas
Abraham Lincoln / A funeral worker : Zachary James
Andy Warhol : John Easterlin
Chuck / Un médecin : Juan Noval-Moro
A secretary : Beatriz de Galvez
A nurse : Noelia Buñuel

The Improbable Skills Ensemble
Teatro Real Chorus and Orchestra
Conductor : Dennis Russell Davies

Stage direction : Phelim McDermott

Costumes and sets : Dan Potra
Lighting design : Jon Clark
Choreography : Ben Wright
Video : Leo Warner (59 Productions)
Chorus master : Andrés Maspero

Press review

“The production is thought-provoking, visually interesting and sonically rich […] Christopher Purves’ polished baritone lends itself well to Disney’s bravado” — NJ.COM

“The Perfect American finds Philip Glass in remarkably good compositional form, urgent and ambiguous, for a fantasia on the final days of Walt Disney” — THE NEW YORK TIMES

“A particularly powerful scene closes Act I, in which Disney confronts a malfunctioning animatronic Abraham Lincoln […] one of the most horrifying and wonderful things in modern opera” — FANFARE

“The Madrid production is audiovisual magic worthy of old Walt himself […] the visual effects are innovative and striking, combining animation and live action” — EDGE ON THE NET

“Christopher Purves impressively conveys the complex and ultimately flawed character of Walt Disney […] Opus Arte’s production brings the work very vividly to life” — GRAMOPHONE

“Glass continues to compose scores of interest, with the obligatory nod to his minimalist roots […] this opera is an intriguing portrait of the man behind the Disney brand” — EDGE ON THE NET

“The opera is what I would describe as Philip Glass in his ‘verismo’ period: shockingly traditional, yet still intellectually rigorous” — THE WHOLENOTE

Technical informations

HD recording : Teatro Real, Madrid | 02/2013
TV direction : János Darvas
Release date : 01 September 2013
Distribution : Naxos Distribution

1 DVD
Reference : OA1117D
Barcode : 809478011170
Running time : 120 min.
Subtitles : FR / ENG / DE / SPA / JAP / KOR
Image : Color, 16/9, NTSC
Sound : PCM 2.0, DTS 5.1
Code région : 0

1 BLU-RAY
Reference : OABD7129D
Barcode : 809478071297
Running time : 120 min.
Subtitles : FR / ENG / DE / SPA / JAP / KOR
Image : Color, 16/9, Full HD
Sound : PCM 2.0, DTS HD Master audio 5.1
Region code : A, B, C

About Opus Arte

Founded as a production company by Hans Petri in 1999, Opus Arte released its first DVD in 2001. From the outset, the label has been releasing recordings from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, one of the closest and longest-standing relationships they have had. So much so that in 2007 the ROH acquired Opus Arte, which in turn became their in-house DVD label. In 2018 the label joined the Naxos family, although its continues to work very closely with the ROH and maintains its base of operations at the Royal Opera House in London.

Opus Arte now boasts a catalogue of over 800 programmes, including recordings in 4K, 3-D and Dolby ATMOS, and was one of the first labels to release high definition content on Blu-ray. They proudly associate with many of the world’s finest arts organisations, which aside from the Royal Opera House includes Glyndebourne, Dutch National Opera & Ballet, Teatro Real, Bayreuth, Shakespeare’s Globe and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

As of 2024, Naxos, Opus Arte and Bel Air Classiques have agreed to pull their resources together to further highlight their shared values of artistic excellence, innovation and transmission.

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