PAUL HINDEMITH (1895-1963): Cardillac.

Description: Hindemith's setting of an E.T.A. Hoffmann tale about a goldsmith who murders his clients to repossess his brilliant creations is staged here in the period when it was written (1926) with sharp-looking costumes and gorgeous Art Deco scenery. Extended polyphonic choral numbers begin and end the work with 15 sections between, tightly controlled, anti-romantic, a kind of combination of Expressionism and the composer's Neue Sachlichkeit period to come. Alan Held (bass-baritone), Angela Denoke (soprano), Christopher Ventris (tenor), Hannah Esther Minutillo (mezzo), Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris; Kent Nagano. 16:9 widescreen format, PCM Stereo or Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1. 148 min.