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Henry PURCELL (1659-1695) Dido and Aeneas (1689)
Kirsten
Flagstad (soprano) – Dido
Thomas Hemsley (baritone) - Aeneas
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano) – Belinda, Second Lady, Attendant
Spirit
Arda Mandikian (mezzo soprano) – Sorceress
Sheila Rex (soprano) – First Witch
Anna Pollak (soprano) - Second Witch
Eilidh McNab (soprano) - First Lady
David Lloyd (tenor)- Sailor
The Mermaid Singers and Orchestra/Geraint Jones
rec. Abbey Road Studio No.1, London, March 1952 Dido and Aeneas
Thy Hand Belinda…When I Am Laid In Earth [5:02]
Kirsten Flagstad (soprano) – Dido
Philharmonia Orchestra/Warwick Braithwaite
rec. Abbey Road Studio No.1, London, May 1948 Georg Frideric HANDEL (1685-1759) Serse (1738)
Frondi tenere…Ombra mai fu [4:34]
Philharmonia Orchestra/Warwick Braithwaite
rec. Abbey Road Studio No.1, London, July 1948 Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750) St Matthew Passion (1729)
Erbarme dich, mein Gott [8:47]
Philharmonia Orchestra/Walter Süsskind
rec. Abbey Road Studio No.1, London, June 1950 NAXOS HISTORICAL
8.111264 [77:04]
One thing Walter Legge got completely wrong in this recording
was having Schwarzkopf sing the Second Lady. So distinctive
is she and so silly is it to have her take Act II’s Oft
she visits this lone mountain immediately after she’s
just taken Belinda’s Thanks to these lonesome vales that
I wonder how he could have listened to it in playback and
thought it acceptable. It’s a miscalculation that fortunately
doesn’t go much beyond the local but is symptomatic of his
casual over-confidence and lack of experience in this kind
of repertoire.
Having started in media res with a kicking let’s
admire the many good things in this, the third commercial
recording of Dido and Aeneas after those
by Clarence Raybould in 1936 (not transferred as yet to CD
but it should
be) and after the war Constant Lambert. Forget whether she
was paid for her labours in good English stout – surely not – Flagstad
acquits herself with powerful, occasionally over-dramatised,
but ultimately revealingly moving strength. She does attack
from under the note – you can hear the scooping as early
as Ah! Belinda I am pressed but she never loses her
regal dignity and her impersonation is on its own terms tremendously
impressive. Schwarzkopf can be a rather stentorian Belinda
and often sounds too sophisticated – a common enough allegation
but it must be faced here.
The
Sorceress, Greek mezzo Arda
Mandikian, proves to have a nice line in acidic spite though
she never over-acts; her Act II Scene I Wayward Sisters,
you that fright is first class and her companions take
their lead from her - Sheila Rex and Anna Pollak strike just
the right note, literally. Thomas Hemsley is a manly Aeneas – he’s
a sporty type not like some of the English bank managers
who have essayed the role – and I believed in him.
The choral echo effects (Act II Scene II) are well judged
and the orchestra plays very well for Geraint Jones. The
men’s chorus lets itself down though in Act I’s Fear no
more danger to ensue – they are very unfocused and flabby.
Fortunately the transfer, from LP I assume, has been very
efficiently managed and presents things in pitch-perfect
clarity.
There are three extras. Flagstad sings the Lament once
more, this time with Warwick Braithwaite
in 1948. Frondi tenere…Ombra mai fu was
recorded with him as well. Erbarme
dich, mein Gott was done with Walter
Süsskind and I assume the Philharmonia’s leader, who I think
at that point was Manoug Parikian, no longer co-leading with
Max Salpeter. The record labels didn’t say, probably because
Legge didn’t like his principals, much less his leader, getting
ideas - as he’d have seen it - above their station.
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