Purcell: Dido and Aeneas

by Henry Purcell (Composer)

Other authorsAnthony Lewis (Conductor), Dame Janet Baker (Performer), Raimund Herincx (Performer)

CD sound recording, 2000

Status

Available

Genres

Music

Publication

Decca (2000)

Description

(Schott). Preface * Editorial Notes * Textual Notes * Overture * Act I Part I, Scene 1 * 1. Shake the cloud * 2. Banish sorrow * 3. Ah! Belinda * 4. Grief increases by concealing * 5. When monarchs unite * 6. Whence could so much virtue spring * 7./8. Fear no danger to ensue * 9. See, your royal guest appears * 10. Cupid only throws the dart * 11. If not for mine * 12. Pursue thy conquest, Love * 13. A Dance Gittars Chacony * 14. To the hills and the vales * 15. The Triumphing Dance * Act II, Scene 1 Part I, Scene 2 16. Wayward sisters * 17. Harm's our delight * 18. The Queen of Carthage * 19. Ho ho ho * 20. Ruin'd ere the set of sun? * 21. Ho ho ho * 22. But ere we this perfrom * 23. In our deep vaulted cell * 24. Echo Dance of Furies * Act II, Scene 2 Part II, Scene 1 * 25. Ritornelle * 26./27. Thanks to these lonesome vales * 28. Gitter ground a Dance * 29. Oft she visits this loved mountain * 30. Behold, upon my bending spear * 31. Haste, haste to town * 32. Stay, Prince, and hear * 33. Ritornelle * Act III Part II, Scene 2 * 34. Come away, fellow sailors * 35. The Sailors Dance * 36. See, see the flags * 37. Our next motion * 38. Destruction's our delight * 39. The Witches Dance * 40. Your counsel all is urg'd in vain * 41. Great minds against themselves conspire * 42. Thy hand, Belinda * 43. When I am laid in earth * 44. With drooping wings… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member HarryMacDonald

The fact that I own at-least a dozen various recordings of this work renders me either uniquely competent to write a review, or hopelessly prejudiced. Too bad: I have the floor, and don't try to stop me. DIDO is, for all its oddities and loose ends, a masterpiece from stem to gudgeon, and there is

no one with whom I'd rather take this three-quarter hour voyage of passion than Janet Baker. Many other great singers have recorded this role, for any of whom I would give up the family silver and sundry body-parts, but ah, Janet . . . Meanwhile, back on Earth, the supporting players are just fine, and Anthony Lewis' tempi and phrasing must rejoice Purcell's heart as he looks down from Parnassus. This performance, incidentally, has stayed in print, in one form or other, for decades, and I rejoice that it has, so that new generations of music-lovers, and indeed the merely curious, can share the love.

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LibraryThing member HarryMacDonald

This is a brightly performed and brightly recorded DIDO. For some reason I have spent much of my life, perhaps too much of it, in areas where bumper-stickers proclaim that A BAD DAY'S FISHING BEATS A GOOD DAY'S WORKING. Much the same reasoning can be applied to Purcell's masterpiece, and so it is

no put-down when I say that I really do believe that his vocal music -- all of it, not just DIDO -- really needs to be sung by persons who have grown-up speaking (and singing) the English language. Obviously then, the cast on this CD faced an insuperable obstacle. Still, for those who have never experienced DIDO, this is an excellent place to start -- but then move on to some of the classic performances by Janet Baker, Emma Kirkby, and artists of that stature (and that linguistic advantage).

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