‘A dizzying homage to Liszt, synagogue music and the enchantingly upward infinity of the cosmos. Conceived as a ballet score, it belongs alongside the great dance music of Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky that thrives on the concert stage.’ – New York Times

‘In any new shortlist of great ballet scores by Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Bartók, Ravel, Prokofiev, Britten and Bernstein, Dante must newly be included for its musical invention alone. There is not a second in its 88 minutes that doesn’t delight. All of it is unexpected and wanted.’ – Los Angeles Times

Nonesuch Records releases the premiere audio recording of Thomas Adès’ Dante – a ballet score in three parts based on Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia – recorded by the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel at a concert performance last spring at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Dante was first performed at the Royal Opera House as part of Wayne McGregor’s The Dante Project for the Royal Ballet, with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and with designs by visual artist Tacita Dean. In addition to the CD and digital formats, Nonesuch releases a collectable limited-edition two-LP vinyl edition of the album, featuring artwork by Dean and photography from the Royal Ballet’s performance; the artwork and photography are also in the CD packaging. The piece’s three parts are ‘Inferno’, ‘Purgatorio’, and ‘Paradiso’. In speaking of ‘Inferno’, Adès called it “a grateful tribute to Franz Liszt, the composer of hell and demonic music.”

Dante is inspired by the alternately chilling and sunlit landscapes of La Divina Commedia. Written in the fourteenth century, this seminal Italian poem recounts an initiatory journey through hell, purgatory, and paradise. McGregor and Adès bring the medieval Christian fantasy to life with a narrative arc about a young woman named Beatrice who embodies a promise of love and hope. Opéra National de Paris, where Dudamel is Music Director, performs The Dante Project this April and May. Adès conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the first part of Dante, ‘Inferno’, on February 22.