Dido and Aeneas.

DIDO AND AENEAS 

Henry Purcell

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

There are about two dozen accounts of this opera in the catalogue, from EMI's early LP classic featuring Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and Kirsten Flagstad to this latest release from the Chandos label's early-music division. This is a sonically attractive issue, the acoustic clear but warm, and a kind of state-of-the-art interpretation in terms of the performing version used. The accompanying booklet explains that ideas about the works performance history have undergone major changes over the past century, and some questions will never have clear answers because parts of the work have been lost. This version has some unusual interpolations, including improvised guitar dances. There's good evidence these would have been part of early performances, though not with this music.

This release is a project of the recording's splendid Dido, British mezzo Sarah Connolly. She's deeply interested in the character (having also sung Berlioz's take on it), and has performed the Purcell with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment heard here. She issued the invitations to the rest of the cast, including baritone Gerald Finley, now making his second appearance on disc as Aeneas. The results are as elegant and appealing as such pedigrees suggest. With the title roles in such refined vocal hands, there's impeccable support from John Mark Ainsley (Sailor), and sopranos Carys Lane and Rebecca Outran) (Two Witches) and Lucy Crowe (Belinda). Orchestra and singers are under the joint musical direction of Steven Devine and Elizabeth Kenny, an unusual experiment in democracy that nonetheless results in a sparkling, sprightly performance that rises like a wave to Connolly's moving "When I am laid to rest."--WG