Product Description
-------------------
The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera join forces for Wayne
McGregor's accled fusion of music and movement, whose richly
layered designs perfectly complement Purcell's telling of a
classical tale of love thwarted by evil powers. With Sarah
Connolly and Lucas Meachem in the title roles, Christopher
Hogwood conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Filmed with High Definition cameras and recorded in true surround
sound.
Press Reviews
"The wide open spaces and minimalist designs contrive a vast
universe against which a very human tragedy can be
teased out, presented with an almost classical purity and
restraint." (BBC Music Magazine)
"Belinda is unaffectedly played by Lucy Crowe, her bright tones
and precise articulation all one could desire. Sarah Connolly,
whether tormented by love or grief, is an equally ideal Dido."
(Gramophone)
Cast
Sarah Connolly (Dido)
Lucas Meachem (Aeneas)
Lucy Crowe (Belinda)
Sara Fulgoni (Sorceress)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Christopher Hogwood
Production
Company: The Royal Opera
Stage Director: Wayne McGregor
Disc Information
Catalogue Number: OA1018D
Date of Performance: 2009
Running Time: 72 minutes
Sound: 5.1 Half DTS; PCM Stereo
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Anamorphic
Subtitles: EN, FR, DE, ES, IT
Label: Opus Arte
Review
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Dido and Aeneas has become fair game for choreographers. Mark
Morris's celebrated 1989 staging put the singers in the pit, with
dancers enacting the roles onstage, including the choreographer
himself in the dual role of Dido and the Witch. Wayne McGregor
takes a more traditional approach in this production, derived
from a 2006 La Scala staging, and here seen in a 2009 Covent
Garden incarnation (where it formed a double bill with Handel's
Acis and Galatea, not included in this release). Here the singers
take their conventional place onstage, moving with commendably
economical gesture. McGregor clearly understands that their
singing itself is their chief expressive instrument; nothing in
the staging detracts from the communicative power of the vocal
line.
The staging, needless to say, includes some actual choreography,
which I found less convincing than the handling of the principals
and chorus. McGregor uses a corps of Royal Ballet dancers, who
are at work not only during the opera's dance interludes but in
some of the sung portions, lurking in the background executing a
kind of sehore. They are obviously visitors from a different
aesthetic realm: whereas the singers wear classical robes, the
dancers sport modish unisex t-shirts and hot pants. The dances
function not as part of the drama but as punctuation to the
proceedings: in an interview included on the DVD, McGregor
characterizes the dancing as "a graphic sketch of the [opera's]
sound world," rather than part of the dramatic action. But to my
eyes, the choreography is too busy and too spasmodic to reflect
the lyricism of Purcell's music.
The dancing is the one eccentric component of an otherwise
orthodox interpretation. Hildegard Bechtler's spare, handsome
sets work well on video, often allowing film director Jonathan
Haswell to frame the singers in close-up against a monochrome
background -- an effective tactic. Rather than the Royal Opera
Orchestra, the production uses the Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment, conducted by Christopher Hogwood. His
interpretation belongs to an earlier era of historically informed
practice -- neat and well balanced but not lush and free in the
manner of William Christie.
The one element that lifts the performance above the level of
well-disciplined routine is the Dido of Sarah Connolly. Her mezzo
is rich but never heavy, her phrasing direct and unmannered. This
Dido does not "act the queen"; she is a queen, noble in sound and
gesture. The video close-ups make it clear that Connolly is older
than her Aeneas, Lucas Meachem, but rather than registering as a
casting problem, the disparity in ages adds to the pathos of
Dido's situation. The performance culminates in a reading of
"When I am laid in earth" that is no less grand for its
simplicity; the great aria emerges as if in a single breath.
Meachem is a comparatively callow presence -- an imbalance that
may be built into the opera itself -- but he brings a fresh, firm
baritone to the assignment. Lucy Crowe is a sprightly Belinda,
her voice as pretty as her visage. Sara Fulgoni's mezzo tends to
shudder under pressure, but this hint of ugliness is well suited
to the Witch. It is in the nature of this opera, though, that all
other roles should be overshadowed by the queen's, which here
receives a distinguished interpretation. -- Opera News, Fred
Cohn, February 2010
Purcell: Dido & Aeneas is directed by Wayne McGregor from Henry
Purcell's tale of love versus the powers of evil. A British
production in Milan, this is one of the more interesting ballets
of modern times I have seen. With its supernatural bent, I am
surprised we have not seen someone (hope I am not suggesting a
bad idea here) license this and gut it out into a bad horror
film, though the romance angle might stop that. Maybe fans of
Twilight and New Moon should see this one, especially as it is
sung in English as written. The PCM 5.1 mix is really good and
extras include a cast gallery, illustrated synopsis and McGregor
interview. -- Fulvue Drive-in, Nicholas Sheffo, November 2009
The first iconic opera in English is Henry Purcell's "Dido and
Aeneas" of 1689. Just an hour long, it's a jewel of atmosphere
and emotion. This Royal Opera House staging from 2009 stars
English mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, the Dido of the moment. She
sings one of music's greatest laments, "When I Am Laid in Earth,"
with grave, pure-toned beauty. The cast's fussy diction can be
"veddy" British, while the ballet-accented production, can be
both busy and empty. There is keen competition from another new
"Dido" DVD. Led by William Christie at the Opéra Comique in
Paris, it's a more , lovely production, though it adds a
pretentious prologue. The French DVD's Dido, Malena Ernman, sings
well but grimaces too much; the French orchestra and chorus,
though, are more vibrant than the British. It's a toss-up. -- The
Star-Ledger, Bradley Bambarger, February 12, 2010
The richness of the musical and dramatic material in Henry
Purcell's hour-long 1689 opera Dido and Aeneas has inspired
directors and opera companies to try all kinds of alternative
stagings. Rarely have any been as successful as this mix of
ballet and opera conceived by director Wayne McGregor for La
Scala in 2006, and recorded in high-definition at the Royal Opera
House, Covent Garden, in April. The music is superb, led by a
fabulous performance by English mezzo Sarah Connolly as Dido.
Christopher Hogwood crisply leads the Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment. The action on stage is shadowed by 12 members of
the Royal Ballet. Music and movement are always in perfect sync,
both emotionally and physically. The sets are minimal, further
putting the emphasis on the people. The main extra is a 10-minute
interview with the engaging, 39-year-old McGregor, a rare example
of a successful dance-opera crossover artist. -- Thestar.com,
John Terauds, December 8, 2009
This performance of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, recorded at the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in April, 2008, has some great
things going for it. The almost-minimalist sets by Hildegard
Bechtler have an asceticism about them that superbly mirror the
opera's content: a bare stage at the start with an open rectangle
in which colors change with moods; later a clump of autumnal
trees; even later what appears to be a ruined ship; and finally,
absolutely nothing for the final number, save, after Dido's
farewell, impressionistic projections in royal blue, with images
of a galloping horse. (This last effect is more subtle than what
it sounds like.) Fotini Dimou's costumes are the same for the men
and women of the chorus--long, full shirts over long, full
skirts, mostly in browns and grays. The Sorceress and witches
wear deep blue--and the two witches appear as conjoined twins, a
nice, eerie effect. The Royal Ballet's resident choreographer,
Wayne McGregor, who also acts as director, has devised dance
sequences where Purcell calls for them: A combination of modern,
stiff-armed, vogue-ing, and Michael Jacksonian poses
incorporating long-armed, sweeping Classical ballet movements,
they're beautifully performed. But they're also generic--triumph,
furies, witches, sailors--all very similar. As filler, they're
exquisite, but they don't shed light on or enact the drama.
Musically, Christopher Hogwood leads the Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment with spring and energy, although he is highly
sensitive in the introspective, tender, and tragic moments. His
continuo section--harpsichord, theorbo, cello, and chamber
organ--is impressive, and he can get a true rumble out of the
whole band very effectively (the music before the Witches' Dance
truly growls). His is not a dainty performance--there is plenty
of vibrato from singers and players alike--and orchestra and
chorus are as remarkably expressive as they are musically solid
and certain. The cast varies. Lucas Meacham is an impressive
Aeneas, catching the character's wavering loyalties well, but his
singing style is more Verdian than Purcellian. Pumeza Matshikiza
and Eri Nakamura look better than they sound as the Witches, and
Sara Fulgoni's Sorceress is far from terrifying and not easy to
understand. Anita Watson's Second Woman is poorly sung. Iestyn
Davies' off-stage Spirit is fine, as is Ji-Min Park's Sailor. The
two leading women are sensational. Lucy Crowe's Belinda, always
alert to her mistress' feelings, looks lovely and sings with pure
tone and impeccable diction. And enough praise cannot be heaped
on Sarah Connolly, whose Dido is the most effective I've heard.
The role's tessitura is indeed her absolute comfort zone: her
singing is as natural as speech. Sad at the start, enchanted by
her new-found love, startled and then resigned by his treachery,
her performance grows and grows in stature. In a marvelously
sensitive move, before "When I am laid in earth" we see blood
coming from Dido's wrists, and Belinda takes her long dress and
wraps her mistress' wounds in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
The effect is stunning, but not as stunning as Connolly's
rendition of the recit and aria themselves, during which she
sinks very slowly to the floor and, at the end, dies. Small
embellishments dot the aria but the flow is never broken. Belinda
cradles her in her arms. The chorus, dimly lit, sings its final
song and with Belinda departs one at a time as the stage goes
dark, leaving a light only on Dido's dead body. These last few
minutes are as powerful a time at the opera as we're bound to
see. And so, not a perfect Dido, but necessary for Connolly's and
Crowe's performances and for the overall musical preparation by
Hogwood. Sound and picture are crystal-clear and subtitles are in
all major European languages. A 10-minute interview with Wayne
McGregor is somewhat enlightening; indeed, more-so than the
dances themselves. As for other versions, a 1995 release on
Kultur starring Maria Ewing is filmed and feels artificial; Mark
Morris' production (on Image, no longer available) is danced. He
stars as both Dido and the Sorceress, while Jennifer Lane sings
the parts. It isn't the opera as we know it. -- Classics Today,
Robert Levine, November 2009
With this newcomer there are now three interpretations of Dido
and Aeneas currently available on DVD in the UK. This one
benefits from an experienced Dido in Sarah Connolly, having made
an excellent CD for Chandos in 2008, of which more later. It also
features an experienced conductor in Christopher Hogwood who
recorded the work in 1992 (Decca 4757195). In this 2009
production good use is made of the opening slow section of the
Overture to show Dido gazing solemnly around, scantily dressed,
spare and vulnerable. Then, in the fast section, attendants dress
her sumptuously, so she becomes majestic and the two
characteristics of Dido, strong queen and fragile woman are
immediately apparent. These are then illustrated vocally by Sarah
Connolly in her opening aria `Ah Belinda! I am prest with
torment' (track 3). This is sung both with great authority of
regal bearing and as a warm effusion of essential intimacy, with
her younger sister Belinda hugging and comforting her. Video
director Jonathan Haswell throughout this DVD points the
individual interaction and emotion of the characters. The
principals respond with fine acting as well as singing. Dido's
glaring stare at the outset vividly illustrates the cloud which
Belinda's arioso wishes to shake from her brow. Yet this is
clearly a stage performance, directed and choreographed by Wayne
McGregor, with its own character too. There's a sombre, bare
stone palace set and a spooky black figure glimpsed at the edge
of its parapet at the beginning of Dido's `Ah Belinda!' who
glides across that parapet during its closing ritornello. Who is
it? Perhaps the Sorceress we don't see till Act 2.
The recitative is as well delivered here as in the Chandos CD. It
too is flexible in tempo to match the variations of mood. That
said, one modification to Purcell's original for me doesn't work.
In the recitative following Dido's aria Belinda alone converses
with Dido rather than Belinda and the Second Woman. This spoils
the parallel of commander plus two attendants with Act 2, where
it applies to the Sorceress and First and Second Witch though, as
you'll see, McGregor has a response to that too. It also
necessitates a rather clumsy first entry of the Second Woman
suddenly to join Belinda in duet singing `Fear no danger to
ensue' (tr. 5). Lucas Meachem makes a manly and fairly mature
Aeneas, if not as mature as Connolly's Dido. His diction is also
good, though his prefacing with a `K' the `W' of his opening word
`When' in Act 1 and `What' in Act 3 is a bit unsettling. Lucy
Crowe's Belinda urges Dido, `Pursue thy conquest, Love', in
suitably bubbly fashion and the lovers caress. But, as in other
recent s, an improvised Guitar Dance halts the momentum
whereby the chorus `To the hills and the vales' can propel us on
to The Triumphing Dance. Admittedly the Dance is short, enough
for a brief embrace before Dido rushes out, but Hogwood then
takes the chorus in rather staid and formal fashion, as are their
dance steps. There's more swing in his 1992 through
more emphasis on the first beat of the bar. The 2009 formality is
McGregor's doing as he uses the chorus physically to `provide
architectural structure to the piece'. Then they make way for the
ballet, here the Royal Ballet, clad as gymnasts in the Triumphing
Dance. At the end of this dance, atmospherically but incorrectly,
comes a thunder-clap as it is the Sorceress who conjures a storm
at the beginning of Act 2.
With rich voice, vibrato and gazing around with gleeful spite,
Sarah Fulgoni is a somewhat hammy Sorceress but undeniably a
presence as she should be in direct sition to Dido. Like the
Sorceress in silvery incandescent blue, her two attendant witches
are rather fetching, but McGregor suggests the two are also one
with a costume covering them both which suggests they're joined
at the shoulder, forming quite a remarkable creature as the First
Witch is a white soprano and the Second a black mezzo. But
musically this is appropriate as it emphasises and arguably
enhances the echoing manner of their duet `But 'ere we this
perform' (tr. 10). The real echo of the witches' semi-chorus
within the chorus `In our deep vaulted cell' (tr. 11) is well
distanced but not the comparable echoing instrumental passages in
the Echo Dance of Furies (tr. 12). The ballet gymnasts return for
this but, as in all the following dances, looking the same as
before. So while they gyrate expertly enough, you feel the dance
element has become somewhat abstracted from the characterization.
Act 2 Scene 2 starts with the happiest episode of the opera as
Belinda sings `Thanks to these lonesome vales' (tr. 13)
introducing an idyllic pastoral scene in which the lovers and
court are at their ease. Lucy Crowe sings the whole arioso with a
pleasant, free-flowing manner before the chorus repeat. In the
second Woman's aria `Oft she visits this lone ain' (tr. 14),
Anita Watson has to compete for our attention with a dancer on
either side miming the action. This tale of destruction is seen
to alarm Dido who has then to be comforted by Aeneas during the
closing ritornello, making good use in stage action and on DVD of
the space the music makes available. While Aeneas sings `Behold,
upon my bending spear a monster's head stands bleeding' (tr. 15)
we see neither spear nor head: instead he gives Dido a pendant
for which McGregor has later uses. Neither do we see the
Sorceress's Spirit, an ethereal Iestyn Davies, singing `Stay,
Prince, and hear great Jove's command' (tr. 16) as this is a good
rtunity to feature a solo dancer. Meachem conveys Aeneas's
conflicting response of resolute princely duty and personal
anguish well. And I like Hogwood's solution to the problem of how
to end this scene in the same key as its opening: not by
interpolating Purcell music from other scores but simply
repeating the ritornello which opened the scene, now of sad cast
as the court sinks down to .
It's the drowsy sailors who have to be kicked awake at the start
of Act 3 which puts more action into the Sailor's aria `Come
away, fellow sailors' (tr.17). They aren't given the action of
the Sailors' Dance (tr. 18) as it's those ballet gymnasts again,
and yet again for the Witches' Dance (tr.20) where Hogwood
relishes some bloodcurdling heavyweight continuo. In the second
scene, albeit not separately marked in the booklet and DVD
chapter headings, the low stone façade is neatly wheeled in to
denote Dido's palace and Connolly sings `Your counsel all is
urg'd in vain' (tr. 21) and the ensuing duet with Aeneas with an
arresting combination of imperious passion and melting intimacy.
Meachem's Aeneas is passionate too. The stage darkens at Dido's
recitative which follows the duet, `But death, alas, I cannot
shun' yet while the chorus philosophises `Great minds against
themselves conspire' we are transfixed by the stage action.
Connolly slashes her wrists with a which happens to be in
the pendant McGregor earlier had Aeneas give her and we see the
blood flow. This brings a graphic meaning to the recitative `Thy
hand, Belinda, darkness shades me', delivered by Connolly with
great dignity, as Belinda sees the wrists and tries to bind them.
Dido's Lament itself (tr. 22) has a well-judged pace and poise as
Connolly staggers, begins to fall and is eventually prostrate. In
the closing ritornello Belinda raises her up to see if there are
signs of life and try to revive her but weeps on realizing she
cannot. I admire this realism: on DVD it's up close and personal,
messy, even embarrassing, but very human. You feel yourself
preferring to be the chorus retiring to general principles. They
return to pay their respects, `With drooping wings ye Cupids
come', The Royal Opera Extra Chorus sonorous and emotive, though
I'd personally prefer more delicacy and tenderness as in the
freer flowing, more chorus in the Chandos 2008 CD. The
repeat comes on instruments alone with spectral glimpses of a
horse in back projection as the chorus departs.
This DVD has three extras. A synopsis which plays for 1:37 and
consists of stills and a voice-over commentary where we learn the
pendant Aeneas gives Dido is a token of love. A cast gallery is
just stills and names without biographical detail. A substantial
interview with McGregor plays for 10:11. He's attracted by and
emphasises the simplicity and minimalism of the work, its
universal themes of love, loss, death, longing and honour. He
recognises the dances are interludes but also connect the scenes
of the opera in physically expressing the emotional content of
the adjacent action. But he goes beyond this in his interest in
telling the narrative itself through the gestures and movements
of the characters' bodies, so that without the words it might
still be understood, moving towards the work becoming a ballet
with song. This is more controversial but isn't done as a
fully-fledged choreographic opera like the version by Sasha
Waltz. Instead McGregor seeks to present `a graphic sketch of
that sound world rather than a representation of the
characterization of the piece', so those gymnast ballet dancers
are intentionally at a more objective and abstract level.
Time to sum up. This is the best of the 3 DVD Didos currently
available because in Sarah Connolly it has the finest Dido. And
it comes in excellent surround sound, cleanly defined yet also
smooth. But the uniform, analytic, under-characterized nature
ballet presentation doesn't appeal to me. I prefer either of the
other Dido DVDs (review) in this, that stage-directed by Peter
Maniura (NVC Arts 50 51442 882223,) providing other visual
activity, that choreographed by Sasha Waltz (Arthaus 101 311)
making the whole work a dance extravaganza. And overall I find
more musically satisfying Chandos Chaconne CHAN 0757, (review),
which also features Connolly, Crowe, the same orchestra and in
Gerald Finley arguably the finest Aeneas ever on disc, a more
formidably regal Sorceress in Patricia Bardon and a fresher
chorus. -- MusicWeb International, Michael Greenhalgh, January
2010
