Maurice Ravel - L'Enfant Et Les Sortileges/L'Heure Espagnole Details

Maurice Ravel - L'Enfant Et Les Sortileges/L'Heure Espagnole

Maurice Ravel's one-act operas L'Enfant et les Sortilèges and L'Heure Espagnole are often performed as a double bill. These two productions for Glyndebourne Festival Opera were first recorded and seen on BBC TV in 1987, and are both designed by the great American children's book writer and illustrator, Maurice Sendak, and directed by Frank Corsaro.

L'Enfant et les Sortilèges or 'The bewitched child' is an enchanting fantasy which tells the tale of a boy who is angry because he does not want to learn his lessons. He destroys his books and vandalises the room he is in. But the room comes to life - chairs, grandfather clock, teapot and teacup - and seeks revenge... The staging of this production featured film projection, and this has been brilliantly reflected in the electronically-edited television recording.

L'Heure Espagnole means not only 'the Spanish clock' but also 'the Spanish hour'; every Thursday at the same time, the clockmaker Torquemada has an appointment to wind and regulate the town clocks, thus leaving his wife alone in the house for an hour... The Spanish adventure is set in a Toledo square, over which towers the baroque façade of the town hall where Torquemada winds and minds the clocks. Maurice Sendak's delightfully animated set comprises a huge baroque façade complete with working clocks and carved emblems.

Starring	Remy Corazza, Francois Loup, Anna Steiger, Thierry Dran, Francois Le Roux
Director	Frank Corsaro
Studio	NVC ARTS
Run time	DVD: 1 hr 40 mins
Certificate
Genres	Music/Musical
Language	DVD: English
Subtitles	DVD: English
Released	Production year: 1987 To Rent: DVD: 22 Jun 2009