Katia and Marielle Labèque, the famous piano-sister duo with a career spanning more than fifty years, are releasing their new album dedicated to the music of Philip Glass. His triptych, composed between 1993 and 1996 and based on the films of Jean Cocteau, is completed here. Following their highly acclaimed recording of "Les Enfants Terribles", which is included here, the pianists now also present the two remaining works of the Cocteau trilogy: "Orphée" and "La Belle et la Bête", arranged by Glass' music director Michael Riesman.
After his portrait trilogy (Einstein, Gandhi and Akhenaten), Philip Glass turned to the works of Jean Cocteau for his operas. He thus revisits the myth of "Orphée" (Orpheus) and "La Belle et la Bête" (Beauty and the Beast). He concludes his trilogy with "Les Enfants Terribles" (The Terrible Children), a novel that is as tragic as it is frighteningly light, in which two children achieve an imaginary and boundless freedom within the four walls of their room.
These are themes that Glass' hypnotic, infinite music conjures up beautifully under the fingers of Katia and Marielle Labèque. "The Labèque sisters are great. They are great performers and great interpreters. And they are wonderful promoters of music - not just modern music, but simply music." (Philip Glass)