Composer: Henry Purcell
Performer: La Nuova Musica, Fleur Barron, Matthew Brook, Giulia Semenzato, Avery Amereau, Tim Mead, Nicky Spence, Hilary Cronin, Helen Charlston, Martha McLorinan
Conductor: David Bates
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Pentatone
Catalogue: PTC5187032
Release: 2023
Size: 1.13 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626
01. Overture
Act I
02. Shake the cloud – Banish Sorrow
03. Ah! Belinda
04. Grief increases by concealing – When Monarchs unite – When could so much virtue spring
05. Fear no danger – See, your royal guest appears
06. Cupid only throws the dart – If not for mine for Empire’s sake – Persue thy conquest Love
07. To the hills and the vales – The Triumphing Dance
Act II
08. Prelude for the Witches
09. Wayward sisters – Harm’s our delight
10. The queen of Carthage – Ho, Ho, Ho
11. Ruined ere the set of Sun! – The trojan Prince – Ho, Ho, Ho
12. But ere we this perform – In our deep vaulted cell – Dance
13. The Grove – Thanks to these lonesome vales
14. Gitter Ground at Dance – Often she visits
15. Behold, apon my bending spear – The skies are coloured – Haste haste to town
16. Stay Prince
Act III
17. The Sailors dance
18. See, See the flags – Our next motion – Destruction’s our delight
19. The Witches’ Dance
20. Your counsel all is urged in vain – Great minds
21. Thy Hand Belinda
22. When I am laid
23. With drooping wings
La Nuova Musica and its artistic director David Bates present Henry Purcell’s most widely admired work Dido and Aeneas. With Nathum Tate’s libretto based on Virgil’s Aeneid Book IV, Dido and Aeneas is a miniature opera, as well as the only all-sung opera Purcell ever composed.
Constantly juxtaposing different moods, colours, orchestrations, this semi-opera enjoys the popularity for its “tunefulness, evocative power, and […] its conciseness”. The guiding star that David Bates wants to follow for this recording is making sure that Purcell’s Italian, French, and English musical influences are all emphasized – by adding a typically Italian harp to the continuo or by doubling the strings with winds in the French tradition. Dido and Aeneas includes one of the most touching operatic laments “When I am laid in earth”.
A cast of first-class singers with strong musical personalities offer an eclectic interpretation together with a chorus that creates a visceral and intrinsically dramatic soundworld. Dido and Aeneas is David Bates and La Nuova Musica’s fourth release, after the acclaimed Gluck Orfeo and Euridice (2019) and Handel’s Unsung Heroes (2021), as well as Beauteous Softness (2023) where they joined forces with Tim Mead. Counter-tenor Tim Mead previously released Pentatone’s Handel Messiah (2020) with Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin. Star tenor Nicky Spence, Fleur Barron, Matthew Brook, Giulia Semenzato all make their Pentatone debut.