Listening to Janet Baker as Dido in her celebrated recording made at the dawn of her career, in 1962, still leaves one breathless with admiration and moved to the core by her combination of glorious sound and intensity of dramatic spirit...Baker’s colleagues are equally good: Monica Sinclair’s Sorceress rasps as villainously as ever.

It is a truly legendary recording...everything is put in the shade by Dame Janet Baker's portrayal of Dido: her celebrated, despairingly moving, closing lament is unforgettable. This was also Anthony Lewis's finest record...and his chorus and the ECO both give their very best.

Janet Baker's 1962 recording of Dido is a truly great performance. The radiant beauty of the voice is obvious enough, but the opening phrase of 'When I Am Laid In Earth' and its repeat a few bars later is a model of graduated mezza voce...Lewis and the ECO (Thurston Dart is a model continuo player) produce the crispest and lightest of playing which never sounds rushed.

Even in 1961 Anthony Lewis was offering historically informed performances of early music, albeit on modern instruments. The strings here have great spring and are attacked lustily...we hear [Baker's] uncanny ability to shade phrases with endless control over dynamics and vibrato...It’s a beautiful, one-of-a-kind portrayal.