Gluck/Sgambati – Dance of the Blessed Spirits – Grimaud, Piano

Dance of the Blessed Spirits is a melody from Orpheus and Eurydice, an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de’ Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the azione teatrale, meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing. Giovanni Sgambati (May 28, 1841 – December 14, 1914) was an Italian pianist and composer. Born in Rome, to an Italian father and an English mother, Sgambati, who lost his father early, received his early education at Trevi, in Umbria, where he wrote some church music and obtained experience as a singer and conductor. – Hélène Grimaud

Bach’s Transcriptions Performed by Grimaud

Bach/Liszt, Prelude and Fugue

Prelude and Fugue in A Minor for organ, transcription for piano

Bach-Liszt - Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543 - Grimaud, Piano

Bach/Busoni, Chaconne

Chaconne in D Minor for violin, transcription for piano

Bach, Busoni - Chaconne in D Minor BWV 1004 - Grimaud, Piano

Dance of the Blessed Spirits: Other Performance

Yuja Wang

The Chinese pianist Yuja Wang plays Gluck"s Dance of the Blessed Spirits from his opera Orpheus and Eurydice, in Sgambati's transcription

Ginette Neveu, Violin

The French violonist Ginette Neveu performs Gluck's Dance of the Blessed Spirits from his Opera, Orfeo ed Euridice