Purcell - Dido & Aeneas / Maria Ewing, Karl Daymond, Collegium Musicum 90

I hadn't planned to write an exhaustive review (or any at all) of this DVD, but I just couldn't let the one previous assessment, Giordano Bruno's three-star rating, stand alone. Actually, it's surprising that Mr. Bruno gave such a relatively low score, given his generally positive written comments.Let me say, then, that I think this is an excellent filmed production of Purcell's miniature masterpiece. The director, Peter Maniura, manages to be at once traditional and imaginative in setting this Virgilian tragic love story of ancient Carthage within the confines of the eighteenth-century Hampton Court House. To liven this elegant, stately background, Maniura makes particularly good use of fire as a persistent motif, whether in the blazing torches celebrating the lovers' public acknowledgement of their mutual passion, or the fiery engulfment of the exterior of the house to indicate both the end of the brief affair and the accompanying fall of Carthage, or the final conflagration of the funeral pyre which consumes the body of the tragic queen who has died of thwarted love. The two principals, Maria Ewing and Karl Daymond, are both attractive and convincingly wrapped up in one another's longing gazes, so as to make their tempestuous passion compelling. Maniura even manages to make the Sorceress and her cackling demonic followers, so oddly (and potentially comically) discordant with Virgil's classical narrative, into genuinely fearsome and formidable figures. All this, plus a stirring rendition of Purcell's lovely score, makes for an entrancing and moving production which more than makes up, Mr. Bruno notwithstanding, for the lack of dancing and liner notes.

I continue to say there is no baroque movie good enough to watch. The best operas start with Mozart. Like other Baroque operas this is boring beyond belief.

I teach high school music history to non-music students. We were studying early Baroque Operas specifically arias and recititives and I felt that my students needed to be able to put the music into context of what the libretto of the opera was and I felt that showing them the opera would better relate the music to them. Well it worked the students got into the libretto and the music. There were some scenes that were a little risque but I just fast forward it. It was a good teaching moment to remind the students that during the baroque period, art and life were decadent.

Those jangling, affected tetrameter rhymed couplets? Listen to them sung to the strains of Purcell's best masque music and you'll understand. In fact, this performance of Dido and Aeneas, which makes no effort at recreating the historical staging, nonetheless will bring you closer to the "spirit of the times" of mid-17th Century England than any amount of reading. It's only a 55-minute production, so it might even be useful for classrooms in English literature and history.If the dandies and grandees of Hampton Court had had video cameras and sound equipment, surely they would have made a film as visually noir as this. As it happens, they didn't. They depended on dancing and costumes for their visual thrills, and a good deal of the music Purcell wrote was intended for dancers. The film has no dancing at all, about which you, dear reader, may or may not care. What it has is movie-quality camera handling, evocative sets, and fairly good acting for a bunch of singers.The singing is good. Maria Ewing (Dido) has enough drama left in her voice to compensate for a slight lack of athleticism in her rapid passages. Karl Daymond (Aeneas) doesn't have the voice to match his macho presence, but Aeneas doesn't get to sing much in this production anyway. Rebecca Evans is vocally delightful as Belinda. The best singing of all is that of James Bowman as Mercury, but he has hardly more than twenty bars. The chorus carries Purcell's musical art here, with the melodies you'll remember and the words you won't forget:"Come away, come away, fellow sailors!Take a boozy short leave of your nymphs on the shore,and silence their mourningwith vows of returning,but never, no never intending to visit them more."Purcell is the household deity of English music, and his premature death is lamented as the reason why England fell short of other European countries in music for the rest of the millennium. Welll... This is elegant and diverting music, but it's no more than that. Unfortunately, this DVD comes with no notes at all - no history, no libretto, no performers' bios. Kinda cheap, Kultur!Four stars for the singing, minus one for the lack of any notes.

It is a short opera of 60 minutes which is like the life of this genius composer. The music ,vocals and performance is outstanding. It is a must for an opera lover. Just a beautiful production which is well done.

This is a beautiful performance in every way. The cast, conducting and settings are exceptional.

L'neregistrement est plaisant : de beaux acteurs, de belles voix, et on ne se lasse pas de ce chef d'œuvre de Purcell !A voir et revoir !

Before purchasing this DVD, I knew little of Purcell's work, and arguably I still know very little! However I have to say that it opened up my ears as to how much I am yet to learn about music. I sat spellbound for the entire, though sadly short duration of this opera.I warmly recommend this opera to anyone who like myself has spent many years wondering "should I/Should I not" about Purcell's music.

...schnell und problemlos übersandt. Leider im falschen nationalen Format(USA), was die Wiedergabe in Deutschland erschwert. Wurde m.E. im Angebot nicht deutlich genug betont.

Une mise en scène époustouflante et une Didon magnifique.La Scène de sa mort est une réussite tant vocale que scénique.

Excellent production values with a good cast, natural settings and believable costumes. Directed with a great eye for the visuals, and a polished 'film' look.The production brought the story vividly to life, and the splendid music shone through.Well worth purchasing despite not being widescreen, though I would have preferred a blu-ray version. (Perhaps we have to wait another 14 years?)Incidentally, in my opinion this production is far superior to the appalling travesty that the Royal Opera House made of this beautiful opera recently with the 'help' of the Royal Ballet.