PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Thanks to the new Cherubini Edition, the composer's unknown comic opera Koukourgi was staged for the first time in celebration of his 250th anniversary 2010. The premiere production of Luigi Cherubini's opera Koukourgi at the Klagenfurt Stadttheater revealed a work that combines a tale from ancient China with the sensibility of the French Revolutionary times of its composition. The three act opera sees a young Chinese man battling for the hand of his sweetheart against the Tartar mandarin Koukourgi, the not unlikeable anti-hero described as a large pumpkin. The turmoil in Paris led to Cherubini's librettist Honoré-Nicolas-Marie Duveyrier being imprisoned in the Bastille and fleeing to Denmark. The opera was left with the finale incomplete and has remained unperformed for over two centuries. Koukourgi's finale was completed by Heiko Cullman and the new performing edition has allowed the opera to reclaim its rightful place on the stage.

REVIEW
''Now the musical world knows that with Koukourgi Cherubini composed a work anticipating Offenbachiana. It is the comic situations here which give occasion for clever, pointed, amusing music . running along with lively tempi, snappy numbers, rousing marching rhythms, with tone painting effects (the storm music), experimental ensembles and a novel simultaneous triple dream sequence.'' --Salzburger Nachrichten

Peter Marschik leads a well-balanced performance, with springy rhythms or bold orchestral sound as necessary in Cherubini's varied instrumentation. --John T. Hughes, International Record Review