Purcell Dido and Aeneas
Released by Pentatone and featuring Fleur Barron, Matthew Brook, Giulia Semenzato, Tim Mead, Nicky Spence, David Bates and La Nuova Music
“I just thought this was so brilliant from the first note... you keep hearing imaginative flourishes from them which just drive everything forward and underpin the singers in the most wonderful way.”
EMOTIONAL DEPTH AND EVOCATIVE POWER: THE PERFECT ENGLISH OPERA
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 Pentatone 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 counter-tenor Tim Mead. Mead previously released Pentatone’s Handel Messiah (2020) with Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. Star tenor Nicky Spence, Fleur Barron, Matthew Brook, Avery Amereau and Giulia Semenzato all make their Pentatone debut.
La Nuova Musica’s first visit to the BBC Proms was a massive success, and the opportunity to go into the studio shortly afterwards to record Dido, unmissable. We are delighted to be able to offer a fresh take on one of the most important and iconic of all British operas to a world-wide audience. We are hugely grateful to all those trusts and individuals who supported us in making this recording.
PTC5187032
CAST LIST
Dido - Fleur Barron, mezzo-soprano
Aeneas - Matthew Brook, bass-baritone
Belinda - Giulia Semenzato, soprano
Sorceress - Avery Amereau, alto
Second Lady - Hilary Cronin, soprano
Sailor - Nicky Spence, tenor
Spirit - Tim Mead, countertenor
First Witch - Helen Charlston, mezzo-soprano
Second Witch - Martha McLorinan, mezzo-soprano