Orpheus In The Underworld CD

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Jacques Offenbach's masterful and colourful operetta is an audacious recounting of a mythical tale of Gods and mortals and one fateful, amourous battle raging between them. Offenbach's immensely popular works were the precursor to the modern musical and although thought of as an opera, "Orpheus..." climaxes in a conspicuous, but wholly rousing rendition of its most infamous number - the 'Can Can'.

Married to Orpheus, mortal son of Apollo, Eurydice is embroiled in an affair with Aristaeus, really the God, Pluto in disguise, who is besotted with Eurydice that he lures her to Hades, enslaving her for all eternity.

As Orpheus embarks on a perilous mission to retrieve her, Jupiter, King Of The Gods makes a play for Eurydice and she must choose between a decadent life with Pluto, an idyllic existence on Mount Olympus with Jupiter or returning to her home on Earth.

This raucous tale is here brought to the screen in a vibrant and evocative interpretation, performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra with Dennis Quilley and screen siren Honor Blackman.