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Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
5 out of 5 stars 'Gerald Finley’s manly Aeneas surely has no peers on disc' The Sunday Times
Editor’s Choice, Gramophone magazine, February 2009
Classic FM radio, Disc of the Month for February 2009
BBC Radio 3 Disc of the Week
‘Between them, Sarah Connolly, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Chandos Records have produced a Dido and Aeneas of unremitting delight’
5 out of 5 stars, MusicOMH
Composer: Henry Purcell
Conductor: Elizabeth Kenny
Performers:
· Sarah Connolly - mezzo-soprano
· Gerald Finley - baritone
· Lucy Crowe - soprano
· Patricia Bardon - mezzo-soprano
· William Purefoy - counter-tenor
· Sarah Tynan - soprano
· John Mark Ainsley - tenor
· Carys Lane - soprano
· Rebecca Outram - soprano
· Choir & Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Label: Chandos CHAN0757
Release date: 5 January 2009
ASIN: B001KS96N8
This new recording of the first English operatic masterpiece, Purcell’s tragedy Dido and Aeneas, Starring Sarah Connolly, Gerald Finley, with the Orchestra and Choir of the Age of Enlightenment, is released to commemorate the 350th anniversary of Purcell’s birth.
Directed from the keyboard by Steven Devine and Elizabeth Kenny as in recent concert performances, the ensemble presents the opera in a version that incorporates other dance works by Purcell, a version which Sarah Connolly performed at Teatro alla Scala in 2006. There have been two revolutions in scholarly thinking about Dido and Aeneas and both had serious implications for historically inclined performers, and demand a creative response today. The musicological backdrop to this recording results in a performance closer to the court entertainment of Purcell’s day, in which musical dramas evolved from the English theatre tradition.
Sarah Connolly, the quintessential Dido of the early twenty-first century, has been the driving force behind this recording. She writes of the project, ‘It seems I have known Purcell’s Dido all my life and feel able to express myself in this music like no other… As a character, Dido fascinates me to the point of obsession’.
Connolly has performed with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on many occasions, including two productions at Glyndebourne – Giulio Cesare and St Matthew Passion – as well as Dido and Aeneas at the Proms, the South Bank Centre and Tetbury Festival. One recent review of Connolly’s Dido had the following to say: ‘It was the sheer depth of emotion Connolly infused in her portrayal of Dido that was truly remarkable. Emotion flowed off the stage from the intensity in her voice and through her actions. Her final aria, one of the most beautiful in English baroque music, brought a tear to the eye in a hall so quiet you could hear a pin drop… a moving portrayal of this tragic heroine’ (MusicalCriticism.com).
This impressive performance by an extraordinary group of musicians makes for a significant addition to the catalogue.
What the critics say
Classic FM radio, Disc of the Month for February 2009
‘Between them, Sarah Connolly, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Chandos Records have produced a Dido and Aeneas of unremitting delight’
Dominic McHugh, Musicalcriticism.com, 29 December 2008
Rating: Four out of five stars
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/recordings/cd-dido-1208.shtml
Music history isn't all about progression: Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, amongst the earliest operas to remain in the repertoire, remains as potent, seductive and immediate today as it must have felt at its premiere. It may not be of epic Wagnerian dimensions, either in length or the number of people required to perform it, but Dido is as ideal a synthesis of music, word and gesture as you could hope to find.
The leading Dido of our day, Sarah Connolly, has performed the opera in numerous settings: we reviewed her in two different presentations last year, including one at the Wigmore Hall and one, given with puppets and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. This new recording from Chaconne (Chandos' Early Music label) took place as a result of the collaboration with the OAE at the instigation of Connolly herself. There is no conductor, but none is missed, and an all-star cast of baroque specialists contribute to an atmospheric period instrument recording with much to recommend it.
Chief amongst the pluses, of course, is Connolly's assumption of the role of Dido. I've never heard her in better voice, and she's technically impeccable: the tessitura is perfect for her, the ornamentation is employed tastefully, and diction is clear. However, what comes across more than anything is her total psychological understanding of the part. Connolly truly etches a journey between 'Ah! Belinda' at the start and 'When I am laid' at the end; her death is the most moving catharsis of all the tensions that have come before. The mezzo will make her long-awaited Royal Opera debut in April in this opera: don't miss it.
The other singer who stands out for me is Patricia Bardon, an absolutely extraordinary Sorceress. Bardon's prowess in the baroque repertoire, as evinced by recent performances of Tamerlano and Partenope for instance, is second to none, and here the rich, contralto tone of her voice is matched with an unerring sense of text, often coming close to spitting out the words with fire.
Fine, too, is Gerald Finley as a masculine but sensitive Aeneas, another demonstration of this artist's flexibility and breadth of repertoire, and the up-and-coming soprano Lucy Crowe continues to build her reputation with a pure and poised account of Belinda's music. John Mark Ainsley is luxury casting as the First Sailor, excellent in his brief appearance in the sailors' little dance at the start of Act III, while the countertenor William Purefoy is ideal as the Spirit, his eerie delivery suiting the message he gives to Aeneas down to the ground. Sarah Tynan's Second Woman, Carys Lane's First Witch and Rebecca Outram's Second Witch complete a fine line-up of singers.
Of note in this recording are stretches of additional music suggested by Sarah Connolly to fill out some of the score (making the disc's running time up to 69 minutes). So we have Steven Devine playing the Almand from Purcell's G minor keyboard suite, improvisations based on a chaconne by Francesco Corbetta and a passacaille by Louis XIV's guitarist Robert de Visée, and Bruce Wood's recomposition of the lost chorus 'Then since our charms have sped', which runs into a dance from Purcell's Circe. The OAE is magnificent throughout the recording, led by two continuo-playing musical directors, Elizabeth Kenny and Steven Devine, and the contributions of the Choir of the Enlightenment are similarly impeccable. Throughout, both ensembles blend an understanding of period style with a dedication to the immediacy of the drama.
Recordings of Dido are numerous, and in all honesty I can't say that this is uniformly superior to all the others. Nevertheless, it's a worthy contribution to the catalogue and will be indispensable listening for those who love the piece.
Editor’s Choice
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, February 2009
Here is England's first great opera presented with a truly cohesive sense of theatrical purpose, one which unusually allows the drama to unfold in a close identification with each of the cameo characters. That said, Sarah Connolly is the driving force from the start; she's a singer who, on her own admission, is obsessed with Dido, from the coalescing of Purcell with Marlowe's topical play on the Queen of Carthage (from which this recording was realised) to singing the role in Berlioz's The Trojans.
Consequently we have a supremely wide-ranging, tragic and experienced queen from the start, inhabiting the shadows of "Ah! Belinda" with early signs of deplorable fate, which are accentuated by an extended symphony luxuriating poignantly on this resonating conceit (this is a version of the opera with a few judicious extra movements, bringing additional scope to the drama as well as speculative musicological interest).
Lucy Crowe's Belinda is a splendid foil for Connolly's self-absorption, with her astute and increasingly desperate buoying up. The Sorceress of Patricia Bardon oozes class with an implacable display of vocal authority over cheap cliché, joined by two witches who gossip like a couple of housewives in the launderette. And then there's that single-tracked Aeneas, whom Purcell gives nothing of great moment. Gerald Finley parades the conventional Trojan Prince with generic regret and a smattering of hubris.
The textural lightness of the OAE, for whom a certain emotional reserve ultimately appears all the more powerful, is another feature of this excellent recording, as is the outstandingly deft co-direction of Elizabeth Kenny and Steven Devine. Oh yes, the Lament. It's a justly crowning event (excuse the irony): Connolly lives it with exactly the right blend of preconceived nobility and gut-wrenching sadness, simply confirming it as one of the musical highpoints of the 17th century.
Rick Jones, The Times, 17 January 2009
Rating: Four out of five stars
As the celebrations for the 350th anniversary of Purcell's birth get under way, Chandos sets the pace with a strong account of the composer's great opera. Connolly sings Dido in a doom-laden mezzo ringing with tragic premonitions. She sings Dido's Lament with heavy, slow, tantalising beauty over its inexorable ground-bass. Gerald Finley is an heroic Aeneas, while the soprano Lucy Crowe as Belinda is bright, supple and optimistic. She is the future, on or off the disc. The tenor John Mark Ainsley is the cameo Sailor. The windless Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment dances seductively, especially in the Gittars Chacony, while its chorus brims with the joy of celebrating arguably England's greatest composer.
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, 1 February 2009
Five out of five stars
As well as helping to raise money to make this anniversary version of the composer’s only true opera, Sarah Connolly has chosen the rest of the cast, with outstanding results. We have become used to ever smaller, supposedly “authentic” voices and musical personalities in this towering little masterpiece — it may have been written for schoolgirls, thus the recent penchant for twittering, soubrettish Didos could have some historical justification — so it is a rare treat to hear “big house” singers, all with A-list credentials in baroque opera, challenging the great interpreters of the past. Connolly’s noble, passionate Dido deserves mention in the same breath as Janet Baker’s, Tatiana Troyanos’s and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson’s.
Her timbre may not be as individual, but she really gets beneath the skin of the role (which she will play in a new production at Covent Garden), registering the pain of her abandonment and her resignation in death with searing intensity. Gerald Finley’s manly Aeneas surely has no peers on disc, while Patricia Bardon sings the Sorceress as Dido’s evil twin: she is insidious, formidable, without caricaturing the music as a witchy old hag. Lucy Crowe’s enchanting, youthful-sounding Belinda almost makes me love this irritatingly bright and cheery witness to the tragic proceedings. The Sailor, who launches Act III with his jaunty hornpipe, is sung by John Mark Ainsley, no less.
On all counts, this is one of the must-have Didos, in superb Chandos sound.
Charlotte Gardner, BBC Music
28 January 2009
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/h9jw/
Forgive me a sweeping generalisation, but its fair to say that great British operas, pre-Britten, can be counted on one hand. Half a hand, even. However, what we lack in quantity, we make up for in quality, as illustrated by Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. This new recording for Chandos from the Choir and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is surely set for widespread critical acclaim.
The performance takes into account new developments in scholarly thinking, aiming to emulate more closely the court entertainment of Purcell's day. Most noticeable is the incorporation of other dance works by Purcell: a tune from Bonduca, the Almand from his G minor keyboard suite and, my personal favourite, two improvised guitar dances played by the OAE's plucked-continuo players. These inclusions do give the opera a different, more courtly feel to previous recordings; they open it out, allowing more contemplation on the unfolding action. The orchestra, directed by Steven Devine and Elizabeth Kenny, plays with rather more reserve than in Christopher Hogwood's Academy of Ancient Music recording, but this turns out to be no bad thing. In fact, it strangely enhances the dramatic punch.
Sarah Connolly as Dido is magnificent; from her opening ''Ah, Belinda'', she presents a queen emotionally removed from her surroundings, a subdued loner, predicting disaster even amidst present happiness. Her lament, the crowning climax of a weighty performance, is as vocally beautiful as her acting has been insightful. Lucy Crowe as Belinda, bright and pure of tone, is the perfect foil to Connolly's Dido, whilst Patricia Bardon’s Sorceress oozes stage presence. Carys Lane and Rebecca Outram as the witches are a more sophisticated 21st century pair than the traditional hags hopping around a fire: think Bewitched rather than Macbeth. I prefer the latter, but it's a matter of personal taste. Then, Gerald Finley as Aeneas is in fine voice, capturing to a T the hapless lover torn between war and his queen.
This truly feels like the 'Dido' for the 21st century.
Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 13 February 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/feb/12/purcell
Issued to mark the 350th anniversary of Purcell's birth, these two new recordings of Dido & Aeneas are striking for what they say about attitudes towards his music, both in the UK and abroad. The Chandos version, though by no means exclusively British, is essentially anglophone, and its cast is drawn from singers familiar to UK audiences. Alpha's performance, meanwhile, has a more cosmopolitan lineup, while its chorus and orchestra hail from Novosibirsk in Siberia. While neither is perfect, the latter is the stronger of the two.
The Chandos performance is the brainchild of its Dido, Sarah Connolly, who raised the money to make it and chose the rest of the cast herself. The argument that the quality of her collaborators prevents it from constituting a posh vanity project is open to dispute. Connolly has opted to fill the missing portions in the original score with music drawn from, and consequently chronicling, the productions in which she has taken part. She has insisted on too much of it, making a work famous for its conciseness seem curiously diffuse.
More significant, perhaps, is that though this is a recording that contains tremendous performances, Connolly's is not one of them. Her singing is, as always, supremely elegant and gracious - though here, as elsewhere on occasion, she equates a sustained mood of melancholy with emotional intensity. Her Dido sounds neither "prest with torment" in the opening scenes nor anguished at the close. The great singing comes from Patricia Bardon's lethal Sorceress and Gerald Finley's sincere, subtly anguished Aeneas. The playing, from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, co-directed by harpsichordist Steven Devine and guitarist Elizabeth Kenny, is exquisite.
Laura Battle, MusicOMH
http://www.musicomh.com/classical/recordings/cd-dido_0309.htm
Rating 5 out of 5 stars
More than most operas Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas invites creative input. With the score itself incomplete, and so little is known about its genesis, directors and musicologists are often tempted to touch it up and tinker: it has inspired all manner of dramatic interpretations, from ballet troupes to swimming tanks, and a number of musical innovations.
A timely new recording in Purcell's anniversary year offers a successful revision of the piece with a dream-team of soloists and immaculate accompaniment from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Originally conceived by mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, a celebrated stage Dido and the lead role here, the project takes a sensitive and scholarly approach to supplementing the score.
Some fleshing out is done with Purcell's own work – a dance number from Bonduca and the melancholic 'Almand' from his G minor keyboard suite are nicely integrated – and improvised music from other sources. Especially exquisite is the early 'Gittars Chacony', inspired by Purcell's contemporary, the virtuoso court guitarist Francesco Corbetta, which begins dreamily and gradually winds into a wild strumming crescendo before segueing into 'To the hills and the vales'.
That it is John Mark Ainsley who sings the sailor cameo is a mark of the fine casting. There are excellent performances from two talented young sopranos: Lucy Crowe deploys her bright and rosy instrument to great effect as Belinda, and Sarah Tynan makes a noteworthy Second Woman. Another comes from mezzo Patricia Bardon, whose Sorceress is rich, pungent and characterful, and, crucially, distinctly different in timbre to Connolly's Dido.
All too often Aeneas sounds lily-livered – the part is sporadic anyway, and Nahum Tate's libretto makes him oddly chaste – but here Gerald Finley sings Virgil's hero with strength and virility. Meanwhile Connolly offers us a supremely elegant Dido. From the start her voice is focused, melancholic, beautiful, and as the drama develops so does the character's vulnerability and gravitas; her magnificent final lament asserts Connolly as the worthy inheritor of Janet Baker's legacy.
The OAE plays, as is increasingly popular with period groups, conductorless (though guided throughout by the direction of lutist Elizabeth Kenny and harpsichordist Steven Devine) but succeeds in achieving that perfect combination of spaciousness and vitality.
This is not a definitive recording – none could make that claim – but it's certainly the most exciting and accomplished of recent years.
Antony Lias, Opera Britannia, Sunday, 23 August 2009
Henry Purcell’s tragic chamber opera about doomed love has been the subject of numerous recordings, with no less than Flagstad, Baker, Norman and Hunt Lieberson all offering up their interpretations of the noble Carthaginian Queen. It comes therefore as no surprise that today’s reigning Dido, Sarah Connolly, would wish to record her interpretation for posterity. In short, hers is a magnificent assumption, which in the opinion of this reviewer, sets a new benchmark for excellence in a field already hotly contested by some of the greatest singers of the past century.
As an opera, Dido & Aeneas lends itself well to recording; performed here in just under seventy minutes, it is a beautifully integrated work, with haunting melodies and exquisite ensembles all underscored by Nahum Tate’s deft adaptation of book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid. Its simplicity removes all barriers between the listener and the tragedy; you should experience it raw with emotion. In the right hands Dido’s suffering can be almost too much to bear. Her suicide is so very personal, even as a spectator or a listener you feel as if you are intruding in a place where you have no right to be. This is exactly how Connolly leaves you feeling. Her Queen is not merely stately and regal, like Flagstad’s (albeit of sovereign voice), nor as cool as that of Baker’s. She is surprisingly real, utterly human, vulnerable and devastated by her perceived rejection. Death is “a welcome friend” and she greets him or her willingly. She imbues the musical line in her famous lament with the weariness of one who is soon to depart this world. The result of which is that the words seems to fall from her mouth with such profundity and meaning, producing a sense of complete spontaneity that elevates her interpretation still further, and far beyond that of any other recorded Dido. Connolly does not ornament the line as such, but instead introduces melismatic inflections designed to echo the longing and disappointment of her fragile soul. I defy anyone with an ear for great singing to not be moved by this assumption.
By raising the funds for this recording, Connolly clearly played an important role in choosing the right cast to work alongside her. In every respect she has chosen extremely well, surrounding herself with some of today’s most exciting talent, principally from the baroque and early music movements. Baritone Gerald Finley is an ideal Aeneas. The role has always appeared to me to be somewhat one dimensional; a shadow in the intensity of Dido’s suffering. Finley is however, his usual stylish and polished self, making more of his character than one usually encounters, with virility underscoring his interpretation. Lucy Crowe is fast proving herself to be one of today’s leading baroque singers, with a bright-edged light lyric soprano that delivers Belinda’s music with real poignancy.
Of the smaller roles, Patricia Bardon stands out for her sinister interpretation of the Sorceress. Her dark almost contralto-like timbre provides a wonderful contrast to Connolly's achingly beautiful mezzo and Crowe’s white-toned soprano. It is a voice of some power, thrillingly intense and very rich in texture. Her “wayward sisters” are well taken by Carys Lane and Rebecca Outram, whilst Sarah Tynan as the Second Woman and John Mark Ainsley as the Sailor, give this recording a taste of luxury casting. William Purefoy as the Spirit is a singer I have not encountered before this recording, but his pure, bright, ethereal counter-tenor, suggests he has an assured future.
The rapport between the singers and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, under the superb direction of continuo players, Elizabeth Kenny and Steven Devine, is evident throughout this recording. Connolly alludes to her extensive working relationship with this orchestra, in the very informative booklet which accompanies the recording. The Choir of the Enlightenment are equally impressive; setting a seal on what is, all things considered, the benchmark recording of Dido & Aeneas.
If there was only one negative to introduce into my review of this otherwise extraordinary recording, it would be regarding the questionable selection of material used to plug the gaps in the score. I highly commend musicologist Bruce Wood’s re-composition of the lost chorus “Then since our charms have sped”, filling well an infamous lacuna at the end of Act II. But I am less convinced by the interminable guitar improvisations in Acts I and II. Cumulatively they lasted little over five and a half minutes, yet felt so much longer. They seemed to add nothing to the spirit of the piece, but their soporific qualities did succeed in temporarily derailing the drama. It is however, a minor irritant in the face of so much that is overwhelmingly positive. It is the disc of the year and should be chosen over its eminent predecessors, if only for Connolly’s majestic, yet all too human Dido.
BBC Radio 3 CD Review, 21 November 2009, with Andrew McGregor
AM: This is Purcell weekend here on Radio 3 and today marks the 350th anniversary of his death, and given the number of interesting new Purcell recordings to come our way in his anniversary year how could we not get involved. So we sent some of the most recent recordings – two complete Didos, a couple of song recitals, sacred choral and fantasias to Purcell authority Bruce Wood, to find out what he really thinks of the performances and some of the scholarship behind them
Extract from Act III “Your council all is urged in vain...”
AM: Great minds in confrontation. The penultimate scene from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and one of I think this year’s most talked about Purcell recordings on his 350th anniversary. You heard Sarah Connolly as Dido sending away Gerald Finley as Aeneas, and she’s left with her Handmaid Lucy Crowe as Belinda, to embrace death. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Directed from the deck of the continuo group by Stephen Devine and Elizabeth Kenwood. Bruce we’ll get to the voices in a moment, but it’s that continuo group that really – and the direction – that’s the heart of this.
BW: Well it’s right where it should be for any 17th century piece because of course the continuo team is the core of the 17th century orchestra. And the interesting thing is, not only is there this wonderful lovely varied colour from the continuo group, embarrassingly lush in places, just how I like it, and pared right back in others, so “Thy hand Belinda” just a few notes picked out on the theorboe alone, not only that but the very interesting thing is the tempo and movement shifts run on oiled wheels, the shifts run on one gear into another is as if God ordained it. Really excellent
AM: It just feels instinctively wonderful with the voices most of the time, they’re great accompanists for them aren’t they [BW: Yes, yes] so when you say sparing with the continuo where nec, there’s none at all in the overture...
BW: None at all in the overture, and that is a very thoughtful decision, probably right...
AM: The singers. Dido. Sarah Connolly. Mezzo.
BW: Yes. She is a very good Dido, erm, she’s queenly... towards the end the quarrel scene and the lament, she is just terrific I think. And Gerald Finley is SUPERB as Aeneas, in Act 2 and Act 3 where the going starts to get rough, he’s brilliant at conveying indecision just by momentary hestitation.
AM: Not someone you’d normally think of for baroque repertoire[BW: No] given his track record as lieder singer especially, something of a star here
BW: yeas, but it’s finely intelligent singing. And Lucy Crowe is an excellent Belinda, and I hope a future Dido. Elizabeth bardon is a suitably sinister Sorceress without resorting to any kind of a silly voice, though i do wish the part had been given to a bass because I believe that’s what Purcell had intended. And the chorus are very good, they are alert, beautifully in tune, slightly plumy for my taste and occasionally just a little bit clipped – “Keep here, here your watch” in the final chorus
AM: It’s a good size of the chorus isn’t it, it has that sort of combination of intimacy and dramatic, it’s the right scale, it fits into the ensemble
BW: Yes, it’s the right scale for the continuo players to be able to direct without anybody standing up on a box and waving their arms of course
AM: So what do you think of the way in which they’ve added the extras in the interpolation say, where we know there would have been something else
BW: We have to be rather careful here, because I composed one of the extras, which is the chorus at the end of the second act, to words that we have when we know the music was lost for in 1704, and I adapted a Purcell dance to follow. Erm, so you can take that or leave it [laughter] Erm, I have to say I don’t much are for the intrusion in the first act of the slow air from the Double Dealer from 1693, it’s a different kind of Purcell [AMcG: A different sound world] a different sound world altogether. It happens to start off with the same four notes as the bass of “Ah Belinda” pom, pom, pom, pom, but that’s really the only connection
AM: But you can see why they’ve done it
BW: I can see why they’ve done it but I wish they hadn’t bothered... it’s quite lengthy
AM: But those points aside, is this a... given the state of scholarship and your own deep immersion in what we know of Purcell’s score... is this a recording of Dido and Aeneas you could live with?
BW: Yes, of course I can live with it, and I’ll certainly go out and buy it as soon as I get out of the studio. There’s one other thing i should mention and that is that this has really very, very good liner notes which are by Elizabeth Kenny and Stephen devine, and they are extremely informative and bang up to date with the scholarship, so you don’t need somebody like me to put the seal of approval on it.
AM: They’re certainly very helpful, well recorded as well as well presented.