3/5. Gluck regarded his opera Alceste as one of his greatest achievements. He was keen to impress audiences in both Vienna and Paris and, as with Orfeo ed Euridice, he wrote two versions to accommodate his audience's tastes. Donald Macleod introduces excerpts from the French version and takes a look at the third and last of the trilogy of Gluck's so-called reform operas.
Alceste (excerpts) Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo: Alceste), Paul Groves (tenor: Admetus), Dietrich Henschel (baritone: Grand Priest of Apollo), Monteverdi Choir , English Baroque Soloists, director John Eliot Gardiner
Paride ed Elena (excerpts) Magdalena Kozena (mezzo: Paris), Susan Gritton (soprano: Helen), Carolyn Sampson (soprano: Amore), Gillian Webster (soprano: Pallas Athene),
Gabrieli Consort and Players, director Paul McCreesh Repeated on Tuesday at 12 midnight