Dido and Aeneas is usually recorded on a single disc,
and indeed Brilliant Classics have previously made this performance
available in that way. This time however they have added a second
disc containing another two short operas based on classical
themes. Purcell’s Masque of Cupid and Bacchus was written
to be included in a performance of Timon of Athens. It
concerns the rivalry between love and drinking – little to do
with Shakespeare’s original play, perhaps, but entertaining
in itself. Pan and Syrinx to a libretto by Lewis Theobald
concerns the unsuccessful wooing of Syrinx by the woodland god
Pan. It was first performed in 1718, the same year as Handel’s
Acis and Galatea which in many ways it resembles. Galliard
was born in Germany, like Handel, and both composers came to
England. However Galliard’s success in this field was more limited
than that of Handel and he became better known as an oboist.
I have heard little of his music before so that this opera came
as a pleasant surprise. Not that it even begins to match the
variety and imagination of Acis and Galatea, but it does
have a charm of its own. Like Handel’s masterpiece it makes
imaginative use of recorders, but lacks the sheer memorable
fibre of that work. Its chief merits are the flow of easy melodies,
the brevity of most of the numbers, and a comic interlude for
a Sylvan and a Nymph (played by a man). It would be good to
see a staged performance but what we have here is sufficient
to show its merits even if the English of some of the singers
makes the text hard to follow. I understand that the libretto
will be available on the Brilliant Classics website in due course
which would make this of less importance.
I would expect, however, that most potential purchasers would
be lured by Purcell’s great masterpiece and would treat the
companion disc as essentially a bonus, especially as the set
it available at super-budget price. Dido and Aeneas gets
off to a very promising start, with Music ad Rhenum - one instrument
to a part (unlike the Galliard) - giving a wonderfully tangy
and vigorous performance of the Overture. Indeed throughout
the work it is the orchestra’s contribution that is most noteworthy,
with real bounce and feeling for the subtlety of the rhythms
and for Purcell’s harmonic language. The soloists are more variable,
with an excellent Dido and Belinda and a somewhat ineffectual
Aeneas - although that may be deliberate as the character is
himself ineffectual. Although I understand that most are not
native English speakers this is not obvious in this work; indeed
there is a clear attempt to rethink some of the “traditional”
emphases to make Tate’s unfairly maligned libretto work better.
The chorus are less good in this respect, and suffer from apparently
being recorded in a different acoustic; this is not a serious
problem. Like several earlier recordings of the work it includes
some of the sections of text included in the 1689 publication
where Purcell’s music either does not survive or was never written.
Other works by Purcell have been used to fill most of the gaps
- apart from the Prologue - but unfortunately these sources
are not listed in the notes. It is interesting to hear how the
opera might have been presented originally, and this too adds
to the sense of freshness which is felt throughout.
The brief Masque from Timon of Athens is full of charming
and entertaining music that is seldom heard in concerts. It
completes an interesting and thought-provoking pair of discs.
Perhaps this performance of Dido and Aeneas is unlikely
to be a first choice for a library, but it has just the kind
of merits and raises the kind of questions that make it ideal
as a supplement to one of the more obvious first choices.
John Sheppard
CASTS
Dido and Aeneas
Dido – Nicola Wemyss (mezzo)
Aeneas – Matthew Baker (baritone)
Belinda – Francine van der Heijden (soprano)
Second Woman – Penni Clarke (soprano)
Sorceress – Helene Rasker (alto)
Witches – Maaike Poorthuis (mezzo) and Yong-Hee Kim (mezzo)
Spirit – Rowena Simpson (soprano)
Sailor - Richard Zook (tenor)
Pan and Syrinx
First Witch – Maaike Poorthuis (mezzo)
Syrinx – Johannette Zomer (soprano)
Pan – Marc Pantus (baritone)
Diana – Nicola Wemyss (mezzo)
Sylvan – Mitchell Sandler (bass)
Nymph – Richard Zook (tenor)
Cupid and Bacchus
Nymphs – Pauline Graham (soprano) and Nicola Wemyss (mezzo)
Follower of Cupid – René Steur (bass)
Cupid – Penni Clarke (soprano)
Bacchus – Marc Pantus (baritone)
Followers of Bacchus – Mitchell Sandler (bass), Hugo Naessens
(counter-tenor), Richard Zook (tenor) and Joost van der Linden
(tenor)
full singing casts listed at end of review;
