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ÇA IRA

Roger Waters

Crossover Prog


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Roger Waters Ça Ira album cover
3.27 | 137 ratings | 10 reviews | 11% 5 stars

Good, but non-essential

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Studio Album, released in 2005

Songs / Tracks Listing

Disc 1 (68:01)
1. Gathering Storm (1:38)
2. Overture (4:06)
3. Garden In Vienna 1765 (0:53)
4. Madame Antoine Madame Antoine (2:53)
5. Kings Sticks And Birds (2:41)
6. Honest Bird Simple Bird (2:10)
7. I Want To Be King (2:37)
8. Let Us Break All The Shields (1:45)
9. Grievances Of The People (4:40)
10. France In Disarray (2:34)
11. To Laugh Is To Know How To Live (1:44)
12. Slavers Landlords Bigots At Your Door (3:36)
13. Fall Of The Bastille (1:34)
14. To Freeze In The Dead Of Night (2:19)
15. So To The Streets In The Pouring Rain (4:17)
16. Dances And Marches (2:11)
17. Now Hear Ye (2:18)
18. Flushed With Wine (4:31)
19. Letter (1:39)
20. My Dear Cousin Bourbon Of Spain (2:48)
21. Ship Of State Is All At Sea (1:46)
22. Silver Sugar And Indigo (0:55)
23. To The Windward Isles (4:50)
24. Papal Edict (1:17)
25. In Paris There's A Rumble Under The Ground (6:19)

Disc 2 (43:06)
26. Fugitive King (2:12)
27. But The Marquis Of Boulli Has A Trump Card Up His Sleeve (4:27)
28. To Take Your Hat Off (2:40)
29. Echoes Never Fade From That Fusillade (3:15)
30. Commune De Paris (2:43)
31. Vive La Commune De Paris (3:16)
32. National Assembly Is Confused (2:41)
33. Execution Of Louis Capet (1:39)
34. Adieu Loius For You It's Over (3:45)
35. Marie Antoinette - The Last Night On Earth (1:36)
36. Adieu My Good And Tender Sister (5:09)
37. Liberty (2:51)
38. And In The Bushes Where They Survive (6:52)

Total time 111:07

Line-up / Musicians

- Roger Waters / composer, orchestration & choral arrangements, co-producer

With:
- Paul Groves / tenor operatic vocals
- Huang Ying / soprano operatic vocals
- Bryn Terfel / baritone operatic vocals
- Ismaël Lô / voice actor
- Jamie Bower / soloist (6)
- Helen Russill / soloist (4)
- Italia Conti Children's Choir / chorus vocals
- Roy Gregory / choir master
- London Oratory Choir / chorus vocals
- Mike McCarthy / choir master
- London Voices / chorus vocals
- Richard Wentworth / conductor, orchestration & choral arrangements, co-producer
- Gavyn Wright / orchestra leader

Releases information

"There Is Hope" - An Opera In Three Acts from the original libretto by Etienne & Nadine Roda-Gil

Artwork: Roxanne Slimak with Nadine Roda-Gil

2xCD Columbia ‎- S2K 96439 (2005, Europe)

Thanks to Not Now John for the addition
and to Quinino for the last updates
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ROGER WATERS Ça Ira ratings distribution


3.27
(137 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(11%)
11%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(21%)
21%
Good, but non-essential (34%)
34%
Collectors/fans only (21%)
21%
Poor. Only for completionists (13%)
13%

ROGER WATERS Ça Ira reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Easy Livin
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
3 stars You say you want a revolution

Roger really comes up with the unexpected here, and makes a bold attempt at composing the music for a modern opera. The words, or more precisely libretto, were originally written by Etienne and Nadine Roda-Gil. Waters supplied the translation from French into English, and added some further words. The opera tells the story of life in France in the early days of the French Revolution, around the time of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

Just to be absolutely clear from the start, this is not prog, it is not even rock. Waters does not (according to the credits) perform on the album at all. All the instrumentation comes from the orchestra, there are no modern instrumental such as guitars, drums, keyboards etc.

That said, while the singing on the album is substantially operatic with classically trained sopranos, baritones, tenors etc, taking the lead roles, there are from time to time more modern sounding vocals. The children's choir for example comes from the "Another brick in the wall" we don't need no education school. At times, Waters music veers towards rock opera overlapping with the type of work Time Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber are renowned for. Overall though, the results remain firmly in the classical. Waters own composition trademarks crop up from time to time, especially his penchant for gently cascading melodies.

The classically trained performers deliver their parts with consummate professionalism, which perversely results in the piece having a certain anonymity. It perhaps fits just a little too well into the operatic mould. The main distinction it has from such works is that the words are in English throughout.

Not being any sort of expert on opera, I cannot offer any informed comment on how well composed this work is in terms of that environment. Whether lovers of that type of music would readily accept this as a bona-fide and legitimate work is something only they can answer. In terms of my own views though, overall the work is highly enjoyable, but unlikely to convert me to becoming a paid up member of OperaArchives.

Review by octopus-4
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR RIO/Avant/Zeuhl,Neo & Post/Math Teams
3 stars Regardless the intentions of the author and the quite sad story behind the birth of this album which took more than 15 years to be written since the first idea, this is the kind of thing that I'm afraid will never work.

It's not classical enough for a fan of the Opera, and it's not floydian as well. The result is that both fans of Opera and fans of Pink Floyd have a high probability to be disappointed. Essentially it has been written thinking to the stage so I assume that a theatre is the right place to enjoy it.

However, the instrumental parts are not bad. I'm not familiar to the Opera singing style (except for Magma) so I can't comment the sang parts from a technical point of view.

We have to wait for the ouverture to finish before hearing somebody sing. He makes me think to the judge on The Wall, and I think this is the key to listen to this opera at home. Listening to some passages there are things more appropriate to a rock-opera but the intention was to write a true opera and it's a target partially achieved.

If one is not keen with opera the listening can be challenging as it stands for more than two hours. I enjoyed it more when I tried to catch the typical Watersian passages that are less than expected, at least to my ears.

Quite good but forget Pink Floyd. Opera fans this is not Mozart.

A nice unusual listen, a bit more than a curiosity for 3 stars and two CDs.

Latest members reviews

3 stars Amazingly his best album to date, but not really the kind of thing I would expect, or anyone would expect from him. Some nice classical stuff here, it may not be the kind of music that his usual fans may like, but its great material, yet not necessarily progressive. Even in this type of albu ... (read more)

Report this review (#262146) | Posted by FenderTramp | Saturday, January 23, 2010 | Review Permanlink

3 stars This is sample of polifacética and money changer mind of this man (like any human being), in this occasion not we spoke of Progressive or in case of WRIGHT clear this of NEW AGE, but if of It operates, that it has of progressive this, perhaps nothing a personal ambition of WATERS of which it i ... (read more)

Report this review (#111581) | Posted by Shelket | Saturday, February 10, 2007 | Review Permanlink

4 stars I believe this to be a very, very interesting record. Even though it is not a rock but an opera record, you do not need to like opera to love this. I think that Waters is reconogcible all along the two discs. So you can find echoes of The Wall, The Final Cut or The Pros and Cons. I believe all ... (read more)

Report this review (#86141) | Posted by fempa | Tuesday, August 8, 2006 | Review Permanlink

4 stars Complex symphonic product. Formally, it is the present classical opera. There are necessary attributes: some voice parts, London Oratory Choir, Italia Conti Children's Choir. The former participant Pink Floyd, one of the basic authors of tremendous albums Dark Side Of The Mood and The Wall, Rog ... (read more)

Report this review (#72646) | Posted by Serb | Thursday, March 23, 2006 | Review Permanlink

5 stars Since leaving Pink Floyd, or even since still with Pink Floyd as he wrote The Final Cut (essentially a solo album), Roger has been going from strength to strength. The Pros and Cons with Clapton on guitar was a minor masterpiece (and if the rumours are true that a follow up is coming, by God, ... (read more)

Report this review (#54125) | Posted by | Monday, October 31, 2005 | Review Permanlink

5 stars An outstanding clasic composition; weather it is or not in the context of our times, it is still a great work, and it just keeps on proving that the great mind of Roger Waters is still full of this musical creativity. In my opinion, ÇA IRA is one of this artist's greatest works from his solo carr ... (read more)

Report this review (#53040) | Posted by | Sunday, October 23, 2005 | Review Permanlink

4 stars I'm listening right now to "Ça Ira" and it's amazing, that's why Roger Waters was a genious in Pink Floyd. I hope all fans and non-fans can take a chance to listen to this recording which really reminds me to Paul McCartney's LIVERPOOL ORATORIO, which is also really good. Though it is not a pr ... (read more)

Report this review (#51799) | Posted by billwilly | Friday, October 14, 2005 | Review Permanlink

4 stars This album may not be a true prog rock album in alot of peoples eyes but it was composed by one of the greatest progressive songwriters ever. When Roger Waters undertook this project in the late 80's he had no idea that it would take over fifteen years to complete. Etienne Roda-Gil and his wife N ... (read more)

Report this review (#51659) | Posted by | Thursday, October 13, 2005 | Review Permanlink

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