Gardiner: Purcell – Dido and Aenas, Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day (APE)

Audio CD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: APE (image+cue)
Label: Polygram Records
Size: 328 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

01. Ode For St Cecilia’s Day, ”Welcome To All The Pleasures”, Z339 – Original Version – Welcome To All Pleasures
02. Ode For St Cecilia’s Day, ”Welcome To All The Pleasures”, Z339 – Original Version – Here The Deities Approve
03. Ode For St Cecilia’s Day, ”Welcome To All The Pleasures”, Z339 – Original Version – While Joys Celestial
04. Ode For St Cecilia’s Day, ”Welcome To All The Pleasures”, Z339 – Original Version – Beauty Thou Scene Of Love
05. Dido And Aeneas – Overture
06. Dido And Aeneas / Act 1 – ”Shake The Cloud From Off Your Brow”
07. Dido And Aeneas / Act 1 – ”Ah! Belinda, I Am Prest With Torment”
08. Dido And Aeneas / Act 1 – ”Whence Could So Much Virtue Spring?” – ”Fear No Danger”
09. Dido And Aeneas / Act 1 – ”See, Your Royal Guest Appears” – ”If Not For Mine”
10. Ciaccona
11. Dido And Aeneas / Act 1 – ”To The Hills And The Vales” – The Triumphing Dance
12. Dido And Aeneas / Act 2 – Prelude For The Witches – ”Wayward Sisters”
13. Dido And Aeneas / Act 2 – ”In Our Deep Vaulted Cell” – Echo Dance Of The Furies
14. Dido And Aeneas / Act 2 – Ritornelle – ”Thanks To These Lonesome Vales”
15. Folías
16. Dido And Aeneas / Act 2 – ”Oft She Visits”
17. Dido And Aeneas / Act 2 – ”Behold, Upon My Bending Spear”
18. Dido And Aeneas / Act 3 – Prelude – ”Come Away, Fellow Sailors” – Sailor’s Dance
19. Dido And Aeneas / Act 3 – ”See The Flags” – Destruction’s Our Delight – The Wit – ches’ Dance
20. Dido And Aeneas / Act 3 – ”Your Counsel All Is Urged In Vain”
21. Dido And Aeneas / Act 3 – ”But Death, Alas!”
22. Dido And Aeneas / Act 3 – ”Thy Hand, Belinda…When I Am Laid In Earth”
23. Dido And Aeneas / Act 3 – ”With Drooping Wings”

An excellent version for an excellent opera.

I don’t know how I got started in the opera stuff, all I know is that Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas was one of my first operas. Nowadays, with a lot more of knowledge, I still recall this opera as one of the best I have ever heard.
This version, from my humble point of view, is one of the best you can get. I love Gardiner’s versions and, particulary, this one.
If you’d like to enter the world of Purcell, that’s the best entrance…