Thursday, July 5, 2007

Roger Waters Opera - Polish Performance

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to go for the Roger Waters concert in St. Paul, Minnesota with a friend who had fortunately just broken up with his girlfriend (so he had an extra ticket!)

The concert was fantastic show. Roger performed numerous Pink Floyd classics and the entire Dark Side of the Moon album. The show was spectacular, with great props and massive high definition screens.

This gives me an excuse to present to you a (somewhat) rare selection today. When I was in Poland last month, I saw a CD on the shelves which claimed to be an opera by Roger Waters called Ça Ira. Frankly, I had not heard of this opera, but since it was a recording of the opera performed during its first full production in Poznan, Poland on August 25, 2006. The back of the CD dedicated it "To all my Polish friends." You can read more about the opera here.

The Roger Waters catalog is available on Amazon here. You can also get a reasonably priced 2-CD set of Ça Ira from Amazon. They also have a special version that is a hybrid SACD with a "making of" DVD here that seems like a slightly better deal overall. I have not been able to easily find the Polish performance that is featured on this blog.

Even though I'm not a huge opera fan (I don't mind it sometimes), I enjoyed this opera. Here, I present the overture from the opera and a song from the third act that is very slightly reminiscent of The Wall (probably because of the youth choir). So, here are songs from the Polish performance of Roger Waters' Ça Ira.

1. Roger Waters - Ça Ira Overture (3.76 MB; 128 kbps MP3)
2. Roger Waters - To Take Your Hat Off (2.45 MB; 128 kbps MP3)

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