Christoph Willibald Gluck was severely annoyed. He was now 60, and still had to deal with the same annoyances he had for decades: the turbulent life at the Paris Opera, for which he was always writing new stage works, the many rehearsals with petulant divas, the orchestra musicians, with whom Gluck was rarely satisfied. According to contemporary witnesses, he had to retire to the sickbed for a while due to exhaustion. Here he dreamt up a dream world: an opera radically freed of ballast, without ballet, without a large chorus, with only a few performers and a greatly reduced orchestra. Gluck himself did not live to see the realization of his dream; the Neue Nurnberger Ratsmusik has now brought it to life: a few singers each have to perform several roles, a narrator replaces the omitted recitatives and even some chorus numbers. Together with the slim ensemble, a prime example of focus achieved through slimming down is created. © Coviello Classics