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Roger Waters
Ça Ira
Release Date: 2005 10 04
Running Time: 111:10
Label: Sony Music Distribution
Rating:

Since the CD jewel box carries a sticker reading, "From the creator of The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall," it is important to note at the outset that Roger Waters' Ça Ira is not a rock concept album or rock opera; indeed, it does not contain rock music at all. The music is best described as classical, played by a symphony orchestra and sung by opera singers. Nor does it contain an appearance by Waters as a performer. He is the composer, and he also co-produced the album. Ça Ira (the title "literally means 'it will go'" in French, notes Waters, though he provides the subtitle "There Is Hope") has been described as an opera, but, at least on record, it might better be called an oratorio. The difference between the two, of course, has to do with staging and theatrical content. Based on a libretto by French songwriter Etienne Roda-Gil (though written in English without any of his actual words), Ça Ira is set during the first phase of the French Revolution, from the storming of the Bastille in 1789, to the executions of King Louis XVI and his Queen, Marie Antoinette, in 1793. Although the stated purpose of the work is to celebrate the triumph of democracy over monarchy, the only distinct characters are the King and Queen. Otherwise, the major characters are abstract or generic. There is a narrator, called the Ringmaster (since the staging calls for a circus setting), and other characters include the Troublemaker and a Revolutionary Priest. In this recording, the character distinctions are blurred further by the reduced number of performers. Bryn Terfel, for example, sings the parts of the Ringmaster, the Troublemaker, and the King, and sometimes he goes from one part to another without a break. Three different choirs also appear, one of them a children's choir that sings in lower-class British accents. This provides one of the few ties to Waters' earlier work -- one can easily imagine the children suddenly breaking into a chorus of "We don't need no education" from "Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2." They don't, however. Like other pop and rock musicians who have turned to classical music, such as Paul McCartney and Billy Joel, Waters turns out to have a fairly traditional idea of the form. Perhaps in aspiring to legitimacy, he has written a work that harks back to the Romantic movement of the 18th century, music that in some ways grew out of the French Revolution. And Ça Ira is certainly a legitimate classical composition. Whether it justifies its intentions is another question, however. If, as annotator Nick Sedgwick points out, the early years of the Revolution have not been treated much in the arts, that may be because they involved so much turmoil and led directly not to liberty, but to the Reign of Terror. As Waters closes his work, he cannot help using the sound of a guillotine falling as a percussion device, and that means that if, as he says, there is hope, it must be only in the long-term sense. William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Tracks:
TitleComposerTime
1Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~The Gathering StormWaters1:37
2Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~OvertureWaters4:06
3Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 1. Scene 1. A Garden in Vienna 1765Waters:54
4Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 1. Scene 1. Madame Antoine, Madame AnWaters2:53
5Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 1. Scene 2. Kings, Sticks and BirdsWaters2:40
6Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 1. Scene 2. Honest bird, simple bird.Waters2:10
7Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 1. Scene 2. I want to be King...Waters2:37
8Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 1. Scene 2. Let us break all the shieWaters1:46
9Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 1. Scene 3. The Grievances of the PeoWaters4:39
10Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 1. Scene 4. France in DisarrayWaters2:34
11Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 1. Scene 4. To laugh is to know how tWaters1:43
12Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 1. Scene 4. Slavers, Landlords, BigotWaters3:36
13Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 1. Scene 5. The Fall of the BastilleWaters1:34
14Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 1. Scene 5. To freeze in the dead of Waters2:19
15Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 1. Scene 5. So to the streets in the Waters4:17
16Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 2. Scene 1. Dances and MarchesWaters2:12
17Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 2. Scene 1. Now Hear Ye!...Waters2:17
18Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 2. Scene 1. Flushed with wine...Waters4:32
19Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 2. Scene 2. The LetterWaters1:37
20Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 2. Scene 2. My dear Cousin Bourbon ofWaters2:48
21Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 2. Scene 2. The ship of state is all Waters1:47
22Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 2. Scene 3. Silver, Sugar and IndigoWaters:55
23Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 2. Scene 3. To the Windward Isles...Waters4:50
24Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 2. Scene 4. The Papal EdictWaters1:17
25Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 2. Scene 4. In Paris there's a rumbleWaters6:21
26Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 3. Scene 1. The Fugitive KingWaters2:12
27Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 3. Scene 1. But the Matrquis of BoullWaters4:27
28Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 3. Scene 1. To take your hat off...Waters2:40
29Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 3. Scene 1. The echoes never fade froWaters3:15
30Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 3. Scene 2. The Commune de ParisWaters2:43
31Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 3. Scene 2. Vive la Commune de Paris.Waters3:15
32Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 3. Scene 2. The National Assembly is Waters2:41
33Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 3. Scene 3. The Execution of Louis CaWaters1:39
34Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 3. Scene 3. Adieu Louis for you it's Waters3:45
35Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 3. Scene 4. Marie Antionette - The LaWaters1:36
36Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 3. Scene 4. Adieu my good and tender Waters5:10
37Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 3. Scene 5. LibertyWaters2:50
38Ça Ira (There Is Hope), opera~Act 3. Scene 5. And in the bushes where tWaters6:54







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