[RECORDING]
On purge Bébé !, Philippe Boesmans
Release: September 8th, 2023
Label : Fuga Libera
Jean-Sébastien Bou, Jodie Devos, Julien Behr, Sophie Pondjiclis, Jérôme Varnier, Tibor Ockenfels, Orchestre symphonique de la Monnaie, Bassem Akiki (conductor)
I'd read On purge bébé ! even before I composed Pinocchio. I said to myself: "This is a wonderful play... but it's impossible to turn it into an opera". And if I say something like that, it means that I'm going to do it - it's like I'm setting myself a kind of challenge! I liked a lot of things in this play. It's rather malicious, as it presents an image of a smug, pretentious, and uneducated petty bourgeoisie and their complete dishonesty. I don't think anyone has ever done an opera based one of Feydeau's plays - at least, not that I know of. People don't think of turning Feydeau into an opera...
Philippe Boesmans