Britten, Bedford: Purcell – Fairy Queen, Dido And Aeneas (2 CD, APE)

Composer: Henry Purcell
Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra, Aldeburgh Festival Strings
Conductor: Benjamin Britten, Steuart Bedford
Audio CD
SPARS Code: ADD
Number of Discs: 2 CD
Format: APE (image+cue)
Label: Decca
Size: 751 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

1. Fairy Queen, Z 629 by Henry Purcell
Performer: Norma Burrowes (Soprano),
Mary Wells (Soprano),
Ian Partridge (Tenor),
Charles Brett (Counter Tenor),
James Bowman (Counter Tenor),
Alfreda Hodgson (Mezzo Soprano),
John Shirley-Quirk (Baritone),
Owen Brannigan (Bass),
Jennifer Vyvyan (Soprano),
Peter Pears (Tenor)
Conductor: Benjamin Britten
Orchestra/Ensemble: English Chamber Orchestra, Ambrosian Opera Chorus
Period: Baroque
Written: 1692; England

2. Dido and Aeneas, Z 626 by Henry Purcell
Performer: Felicity Palmer (Soprano),
Robert Tear (Tenor),
Dame Janet Baker (Mezzo Soprano),
Alfreda Hodgson (Mezzo Soprano),
Peter Pears (Tenor),
Felicity Lott (Soprano),
Anna Reynolds (Mezzo Soprano),
Norma Burrowes (Soprano)
Conductor: Steuart Bedford
Orchestra/Ensemble: London Opera Chorus, Aldeburgh Festival Orchestra
Period: Baroque
Written: 1689; England

CD 01
The Fairy Queen
Part 1: Oberon’s Birthday
01. Symphony
02. Now the night is chas’d away
03. Let the fifes and the clarions….Dance
04. When a cruel long winter
05. Hail! great parent of us all
06. Thus the ever grateful Spring
07. Here’s the Summer, sprightly gay
08. See, my many-coloured fields
09. Next, Winter comes slowly, pale
10. Hail! great parent of us all

Part 2: Night and Silence
11. Prelude…Come, all ye songsters of the sky
12. The songsters…May the god of wit inspire
13. Echo…Now join your warbling voices all
14. Fill up the bowl
15. See, even Night herself is here
16. “I am come to lock all fast”
17. “One charming night”
18. No.17 “Hush, no more”
19. No.18 Dance for the followers of night

Part 3: The Sweet Passion
20. Overture
21. If love’s a sweet passion…I press her hand
22. O let me weep, for ever weep
23. Now the maids and the men are making of hay
24. A Dance of Haymakers
25. A thousand, thousand ways
26. Hornpipe and rondeau

CD 02
The Fairy Queen
Part 4: Epithalamium
01. Symphony
02. Hark! Hark the echoing air
03. Sure the dull God of Marriage
04. See, I obey
05. Turn then thine eyes
06. My torch indeed…They shall be as happy
07. Chaconne
08. They shall be as happy

Dido and Aeneas, Z.626
Act 1
09. Overture
10. “Shake the cloud from off your brow”
11. “Ah! Belinda, I am prest”
12. “Whence could so much virtue spring?”
13. “Fear no danger to ensue”
14. “See your royal guest appears”
15. Prelude for the Witches – “Wayward Sisters”
16. “Ruin’d ere the set of sun?”

Act 2
17. Ritornelle – “Thanks to these lonesome dales”
18. “Oft she visits this lov’d mountain”
19. “Behold, upon my bending spear”
20. “Stay, Prince, and hear great Jove’s command”

Act 3
21. Prelude – “Come away, fellow sailors”
22. “See the flags and streamers curling”
23. “Your counsel all is urg’d in vain”
24. “But death, alas! …When I am laid in earth”
25. “With drooping wings ye cupids come”