Salvatore Sciarrino: Luci mie traditrici

Sciarrino's haunting opera based on the life of the Italian Renaissance composer, Carlo Gesualdo. Featuring the soprano Annette Stricker, baritone Otto Katzameier, and countertenor Kai Wessel. Performed by the inimitable Klangforum Wien and conducted by Beat Furrer. Brought to you by the masterful Austrian sound engineers at KAIROS.

The plot of this chamber opera is based on the authentic story of the Renaissance composer Gesualdo who had his wife murdered out of jealousy. The theme of the work is the transience of love. On one day’s morning a man and his wife, Count and Countess, invoke their eternal love. At mid-day the Countess is gripped by the passion for a guest to whom she gives herself away. In the evening the Count forgives her and she returns. In the night, as she opens the curtain to her bed in the presence of her husband, she sees on it the body of her lover. The Count then kills her, and, stabbed by her husband’s dagger, she collapses over her murdered lover.

For this love story of a single day Sciarrino creates a form of music which expresses the finest nuances of feeling of the human soul. In parallel to the condensing of time of the original drama, the language of the music drama appears as a crystallization of the feelings of love. The language of the lovers sounds like a continuing implosion in the narrowness of their intimacy. In this work the language of passion gives birth to a kind of singing hitherto unknown to us.


Salvatore Sciarrino (*1947)
Luci mie traditrici, opera in two acts. Text according to "Il tradimento per l'onore" by Giacinto Andrea Cicognini (1664)

1) Acte 1 - Prologue
2) Acte 1 - Scena I + Buio
3) Acte 1 - Scena II
4) Acte 1 - Intermezzo
5) Acte 1 - Scena III
6) Acte 1 - Scena IV + Buio
7) Acte 1 - Scena V
8) Acte 2 - Preludio
9) Acte 2 - Scena VI
10) Acte 2 - Intermezzo II
11) Acte 2 - Scena VII
12) Acte 2 - Intermezzo III
13) Acte 2 - Scene VIII

Files encoded as Apple lossless, track information in ID3. Cover art only is included.
Tiny parts at 4swyxv, 3gsv5d, and 53ukv7


Enjoy!