Cavalli: La Didone

It's a fascinating piece. Cavalli treats Giovanni Busenello's libretto with dignity in a responsive setting...So, too, does Hervieu-Leger, capturing its complex narrative and emotional interaction... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2012, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 30th Jul 2012
Catalogue No: OA1080D
Label: Opus Arte

BBC Music Magazine

November 2012

DVD Choice
Gramophone Magazine

Awards Issue 2012

Editor's Choice

Cavalli: La Didone

Recorded live at the Théâtre de Caen, October 2011
Anna Bonitatibus (Didone), Kresimir Spicer (Enea), Xavier Sabata (larba), Maria Streijffert (Ecuba) & Katherine Watson (Cassandra)
Les Arts Florissants
William Christie (conductor) & Clément Hervieu-Léger (director)

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One of the first operas deserving of the name, Didone is our first surviving musical version of the famous episode in Virgil's Aeneid where the Trojan hero loves and then cruelly leaves the noble Dido. Cavalli learnt at the feet of Monteverdi, and his dramatic transformation of the story is all the more expressive for its intimacy, worthy of the examples set by his master. At the centre of this bold and simple staging – the first opera production by comic actor Clément Hervieu-Léger – is the Queen of Carthage herself, sung with uncompromising intensity by Anna Bonitatibus. William Christie and his singers and players show themselves entirely attuned to the world of Cavalli, where meaning and music fuse.

Running time: 176 minutes

Subtitles: EN/FR/DE

Sound format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS

Reviews

November 2012

It's a fascinating piece. Cavalli treats Giovanni Busenello's libretto with dignity in a responsive setting...So, too, does Hervieu-Leger, capturing its complex narrative and emotional interaction with flair...there are no weak links in the cast, who impress as a real ensemble of actors...as always, Les Arts Florissants perform with enormous style.

Awards Issue 2012

With a small orchestra of solo strings, continuo and a couple of woodwind, the focus is very much on the declamatory skills of the singers. Anna Bonitatibus is outstanding, especially in her confrontation, impassioned but dignified, with Aeneas...elegant, well-paced conducting from William Christie.

October 2012

Anna Bonitatibus as Dido is first-class; her powerful mezzo voice is as resplendent as her wonderful name and Krešimir špicer’s Æneas is hardly far behind...Christie’s direction can almost be taken to guarantee a fine performance and that’s the case here...If you wish to have only one Cavalli recording in your collection, this would vie strongly for that honour

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