Ca ira (English Version) Roger Waters

• 1The Gathering Storm01:38
• 2Overture04:06
• 3A Garden in Vienna 176500:53
• 4Madame Antoine, Madame Antoine...02:53
• 5Kings, Sticks and Birds02:41
• 6Honest Bird, Simple Bird...02:10
• 7I Want to Be King...02:37
• 8Let Us Break All the Shields...01:45
• 9The Grievances of the People04:40
• 10France in Disarray02:34
• 11To Laugh Is to Know How to Live...01:44
• 12Slavers, Landlords, Bigots at Your Door...03:36
• 13The Fall of the Bastille01:34
• 14To Freeze in the Dead of Night...02:19
• 15So to the Streets in the Pouring Rain...04:17
• 16Dances and Marches02:11
• 17Now Hear Ye!...02:18
• 18Flushed with Wine...04:31
• 19The Letter01:39
• 20My Dear Cousin Bourbon of Spain...02:48
• 21The Ship of State Is All at Sea...01:46
• 22Silver, Sugar and Indigo00:55
• 23To the Windward Isles...04:50
• 24The Papal Edict01:17
• 25In Paris There's a Rumble Under the Ground...06:19
• 26The Fugitive King02:12
• 27But the Marquis of Boulli Has a Trump Card up His Sleeve...04:27
• 28To Take Your Hat off...02:40
• 29The Echoes Never Fade from That Fusillade...03:15
• 30The Commune de Paris02:43
• 31Vive la Commune de Paris...03:16
• 32The National Assembly is Confused...02:41
• 33The Execution of Louis Capet01:39
• 34Adieu Louis for You It's Over...03:45
• 35Marie Antoinette - The Last Night on Earth01:36
• 36Adieu My Good and Tender Sister...05:09
• 37Liberty02:51
• 38And in the Bushes Where They Survive...06:52
• Total Runtime01:51:07

Info for Ca ira (English Version)

Music icon Roger Waters presents Ça Ira, his original classical composition set during the early days of the French Revolution. A work of stunning beauty and power, Ça Ira evokes the passion, faith, and madness of a time that forever changed the world.

Featuring spoken narration by Roger Waters, Ça Ira is scored for full orchestra, four solo voices, chorus, and children's chorus. The work is sung in English.

Work on Ça Ira, his first opera for full orchestra and voice, began in 1989, during the Bicentennial of the French Revolution. Waters was introduced to the well-respected and successful songwriter Etienne Roda-Gil and his wife, Nadine, by a mutual friend. They had created an original libretto for an opera, written in French, as part of the Bicentennial, entitled Ça Ira, after a revolutionary song of the period.

Waters was deeply impressed by the passion and the power of Etienne's manuscript and began work on creating a full orchestral score for Ça Ira. Work on the project was suspended when Nadine died tragically of leukaemia, but in 1997, Roger began writing an English version of the text. The finished version of Ça Ira features orchestration and choral arrangements by Rick Wentworth and Roger Waters, also the album's producers.

In 1997, Roger began writing an English version of the text. 'It's not just a translation,' he says. 'I've stuck very much to the spirit of Etienne's original, adding to it somewhat. Although it's rooted in the history of the revolution, its philosophical slant is, I suppose, contemporary as well. It's more than just a history of the French Revolution, it's a piece about the human potential for change.'

The finished version of 'Ca Ira' features orchestration and choral arrangements by Rick Wentworth and Roger Waters, also the album's producers. Principal characters in the opera are brought to life by the Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel (the Ringmaster, the Troublemaker, Louis Capet - the King of France); internationally acclaimed soprano Ying Huang (Marie Marianne - the Voice of Liberty, Reason and the Republic, Marie Antoinette - the Queen of France); American tenor Paul Groves (A Revolutionary Priest, A Military Officer); and Nigerian 'one man orchestra' Ismael Lo (a Revolutionary Slave).

Other parts are sung by Jamie Bower (Honest Bird - the young Revolutionary Priest) and Helen Russill (Madame Antoine - the young Marie Antoinette). Before the rise and fall of the guillotine, before the terror took hold, the People of France fought for a better world based on the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity rather than one ruled by a callous and outmoded nobility. It is this story of hope and promise that inspired 'Ca Ira.' Set during the optimistic early days of the French Revolution, 'Ca Ira is a work of stunning power and beauty, invoking the passion, madness, and triumph of faith in a time that forever changed the nature of the world.

On a side note, it was during the French Revolution, which began in 1789, that various components of the French citizenry were emancipated from a perceived society of servitude to the bougoisi. It was in this context that the Jewish Question was also debated. Conservatives, such as philosopher/playwright Volaire, opposed the liberal tenets of the Revolution, and maintained that Jews should remain separate and not be given equal civil status with French citizens. The liberal and radical leaders, however, argued that all people, including Jews, should be entitled to the rights of citizenship. In 1791, the National Assembly voted for the rights of citizenship to be extended to Jews. A year later, a Jew was elected to the National Assembly. Thus, the Revolution emancipated all peoples of France ensuruing them equal freedoms and civil rights.

Ying Huang, Soprano
Paul Groves, Tenor
Bryan Hymel, Tenor
Ismael Lo, Tenor
Jamie Bower, Voice
Helen Russill, Voice
Roger Waters, Narrator
London Voices
Italia Conti Children's Choir
The Choir of the London Oratory
Rick Wentworth, conductor

Recorded from 2 December 1988 – 29 August 2005
Mixed and recorded by Simon Rhodes
Mastered at Abbey Road Studios
Produced by Roger Waters and Rick Wentworth

Digitally remastered

Please note and be aware, that 44.1 kHz, 24bit is the native remastered sampling rate. All other offerings in the market are up sampled to 88.2 and 176.4 kHz!

Roger Waters
became a legend of rock music through his seminal creations, The Wall and The Dark Side of the Moon. Waters has sold more than 250 million albums worldwide, including 74.5 million units sold in the United States, and has sold more tickets in the last three years than any other performing artist. He now turns to his latest creation and great passion – his own operatic composition.

In 1965, Waters co-founded the band Pink Floyd with drummer Nick Mason, keyboardist Richard Wright and guitarist, singer and songwriter Syd Barrett. Waters initially served as the group's bassist and co-lead vocalist, but following the departure of Barrett in 1968, he also became their lyricist and conceptual leader. Pink Floyd subsequently achieved international success with the concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall and The Final Cut. By the early 1980s, they had become one of the most critically acclaimed and best-selling acts in the history of popular music; as of 2013, they have sold more than 250 million albums worldwide.

Waters' solo career has included three studio albums: The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Radio K.A.O.S. and Amused to Death. In 1990, he staged one of the largest and most extravagant rock concerts in history, The Wall - Live in Berlin, with an official attendance of 200,000. In 1996, he was inducted into the US and the UK Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Pink Floyd. In 2005, he released Ça Ira an opera in three acts translated from Etienne and Nadine Roda-Gils' libretto about the French Revolution. Later that year, he reunited with Pink Floyd bandmates Mason, Wright and David Gilmour for the Live 8 global awareness event; it was the group's first appearance with Waters since 1981. He has toured extensively as a solo act since 1999 and played The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety for his world tour of 2006-2008. In 2010, he began The Wall Live and in 2011 Gilmour and Mason appeared with him during a performance of the double album in London. As of 2013, the tour is the highest-grossing of all time by a solo artist.

Booklet for Ca ira (English Version)