Also available on Blu-ray

Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Atys, a tragédie en musique, became known as the ‘king’s opera’ due to Louis XIV’s fondness for it. The work stands as a testament to the Sun King’s courtly refinement, as well as his moves to make France the center of European artistic culture. The opera’s themes of romantic dilemmas and ultimate tragedy, set amidst the poetic atmosphere of Ovid’s classical mythology, create the perfect vehicle for a narrative filled with dramatic intensity combined with a myriad of moving and expressive arias and duets. William Christie conducts this acclaimed production – hailed by The New York Times as being ‘as satisfying as it is bold’.

REVIEW:

The role of Atys is physically as well as vocally taxing, but is here superbly realised by the German tenor, Bernard Richter, while the French soprano, Emmanuelle De Negri, is an excellent Sangaride, with the creamy voice of the mezzo, Stephanie D’Oustrac, as Cybele completing the love triangle. The cast list is large, and with the Compagnie Fetes Galantes providing the dancers, the stage is at times totally filled. The reviews at the time of filimg (2011) were suitably euphoric regarding the casting, and equally of the presence of the period instrument orchestra, Les Arts Florrissants, with the idiomatic conducting of William Christie. The filming itself is immaculate in its ideal mix of full stage and close-up images, while the sound quality is gorgeous.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)

Also available on DVD

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Atys, a tragédie en musique, became known as the ‘king’s opera’ due to Louis XIV’s fondness for it. The work stands as a testament to the Sun King’s courtly refinement, as well as his moves to make France the center of European artistic culture. The opera’s themes of romantic dilemmas and ultimate tragedy, set amidst the poetic atmosphere of Ovid’s classical mythology, create the perfect vehicle for a narrative filled with dramatic intensity combined with a myriad of moving and expressive arias and duets. William Christie conducts this acclaimed production – hailed by The New York Times as being ‘as satisfying it is bold’.

REVIEW:

The role of Atys is physically as well as vocally taxing, but is here superbly realised by the German tenor, Bernard Richter, while the French soprano, Emmanuelle De Negri, is an excellent Sangaride, with the creamy voice of the mezzo, Stephanie D’Oustrac, as Cybele completing the love triangle. The cast list is large, and with the Compagnie Fetes Galantes providing the dancers, the stage is at times totally filled. The reviews at the time of filimg (2011) were suitably euphoric regarding the casting, and equally of the presence of the period instrument orchestra, Les Arts Florrissants, with the idiomatic conducting of William Christie. The filming itself is immaculate in its ideal mix of full stage and close-up images, while the sound quality is gorgeous.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau hailed “Platée” as “the best musical play ever to be heard in our theatres.” In Robert Carsen’s production, the mythological events take place in the world of Parisian haute couture and Jupiter is portrayed as the fashion god Karl Lagerfeld (1933-2019) – who has now really been transferred up to Olympus. This ingeniously apt transposition of this satirical opera into the modern day has long been a hit! The renowned specialist in baroque music, William Christie, conducts his Les Arts Florissants, the Arnold Schoenberg Chor and a fantastic cast. “A candy-colored baroque dream” Salzburger Nachrichten // “A must-see - and not only for fashion freaks!” (Bühne)

Note: The Blu-ray version is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

"For its first staging of a Rameau opera, the Glyndebourne Festival in England went big: a riotous yet sophisticated production, by Jonathan Kent, that captures both the frigidity and the passions of human relations, and that has the leadership of the French Baroque master William Christie, conducting the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Ed Lyon, Christiane Karg, Sarah Connolly, and Stéphane Degout all give standout performances." – Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times

In Glyndebourne's first-ever staging of a opera by Rameau, director Jonathan Kent presents a production which, in his own words, strives to appeal to every sense and show audiences how engrossing and musically ravishing French Baroque opera can be. Rameau's inventive take on Racine's great tragedy Phèdre is brought to life by Paul Browns colourful and elegant designs and Ashley Pages playful choreography. Ed Lyon and Christiane Karg give captivating performances as the titular young lovers, while Sarah Connolly, making a welcome return to Glyndebourne, invests Phaedra with both grandeur and a desperately human vulnerability (The Independent). Leading exponent of early music William Christie sets an exhilarating pace, galvanising the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment to playing of tremendous panache (The DailyTelegraph).

Jonathan Kent, stage director
Paul Brown, set and costume designer
Mark Henderson, lighting designer

Recorded live at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Lewes, June 2013

Bonus: -
An opera to surprise and delight
- Cast gallery

• Picture format: NTSC 16:9
• Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
• Region code: 0 (worldwide)
• Subtitles: English, French, German, Dutch, Japanese, Korean
• Running time: 187 mins
• of DVDs: 2
• of Blu-ray discs: 1

REVIEW:

It could be argued that the loose-limbed structure of Hippolyte et Aricie strays too widely from Phèdre, though its major excursions are drawn from the mythological variants Racine himself discusses in the play’s preface. Its controlled extravagance makes it one of the great French Baroque entertainments, though Rameau’s insights into Phèdre’s emotional and moral torment form a real heart of darkness. Christie conducted a superb Glyndebourne cast in 2013.

-- Gramophone

"This is now the best version of Monteverdi's Return of Ulysses" -- Anthony Pryer, BBC Music Magazine

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI (1567 – 1643):
Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Dramma in musica in three acts

Kobie van Rensburg; Christine Rice; Cyril Auvity; Joseph Cornwell; Umberto Chiummo; Juan Sancho; Xavier Sabata; Ed Lyon; H. Bayodi-Nirt; Robert Burt; Marina Rodriguez-Cusí; Claire Debono; Luigi De Donato

Les Arts Florissants/William Christie

Pierluigi Pizzi, director; Roberto Maria Pizzuto, choreography
Recording: Teatro Real, Madrid, April 2009
NTSC All Region; DD 5.1/LPCM 2.0; 16:9; Approx. 175 mins.
Subtitled in Italian, English, German, French & Spanish

• Once again William Christie, Les Arts Florissants (celebrating their 30th anniversary at the time of this recording,) and Pier Luigi Pizzi converge as an inspired team in an exciting production.
• First Spanish performance of the opera on DVD and the second of the staged Monteverdi trilogy by the Teatro Real company, co-produced with La Fenice.
• This critically acclaimed new release of "L’Orfeo" on DVD has drawn worldwide attention.
• DVD includes interviews to W. Christie, K. van Rensburg and C. Rice.

"Last year we gave a performance here in the Teatro Real of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, this year we have Ulisse and next year Poppea. We’re no longer in Mantova and we’re no longer in the Court of the Prince. We’re in Venezia and essentially [at] the beginning of the public opera house. We’re also at the beginning of what will become opera seria, that’s to say beyond the instrumental colors, the great dances and the great pageants, [are] the beautiful effects of the singing, it’s bel-canto and so the orchestral accompaniment becomes simpler.
This is the essential difference between Orfeo and these last...two operas that were composed toward the end of his life. Orfeo is the beginning of the 17th century, the very beginning, the first ten years [and] he’s a young man, and Poppea and Ulisse are works of old age when he became a resident in Venezia. When Monteverdi was Maestro di Cappella of San Marco he is writing essentially for the new phenomenon, the Venetian opera house." - from William Christie’s interview 2008 included on in the DVD

Also available on Blu-ray

Featuring some of the earliest operas in existence, this box set features Baroque Opera Classics. The set contains Handel’s Deidamia, Cavalli’s La Didone, and Ercole Amante,Pergolesi’s Adriano in Siria, Rameau’s Zoroastre, and Scarlatti’s Dove e Amore e Gelosia. These recordings from De Nederlandse Opera, Le Theatre de Caen, Pergolesi Spring Festival, Jesi, Ancona, and DNO are not to be missed.

an achingly serious and sober portrayal of Olympian rage and jealousy.

Also available on Blu-ray

This outstanding live recording is the first ever collaboration between director Luc Bondy, conductor William Christie, and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. This recording was taken in December of 2004 at the Opera National de Paris. Les Arts Florissants, conducted by William Christie, does a beautiful job of performing the score by G. F. Handel.

Hercules returns from the war with Iole, a princess he fell in love with. Mad with jealousy, Déjanire, his wife, ends up totally insane after poisoning her husband.

Half theatrical performance, half secular oratorio, Hercules wasn’t originally meant to be performed in front of an audience. Luc Bondy chose to show the dramatis personae as ordinary people, victims of their passions. The superb Chorus of the Arts Florissants, both mediator and prosecutor, is the main witness of this tragedy of women’s jealousy.
-----

REVIEW:

The stand-out performance comes, as it should, from DiDonato as Dejanira, much more the true lead role of the piece. As a showcase for this singer's exquisite tone and agility, the production earns ample gratitude. William Shimell never has an opportunity to earn much sympathy as the titular hero, and so his occasionally brusque, grainy delivery can't be faulted. Besides being exquisite herself, Ingela Bohlin sings a lovely Iole, and Toby Spence's Hyllus gives more evidence of this young tenor's promise, with his light instrument easily grasping Handel's meandering melodic lines.

The irreproachable William Christie and his orchestra and chorus of Les Arts Florrisants get the sharp and detailed recording their performance deserves.

­– Opera Today Picture Format: 16:9
Audio Formats: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish
Region Code: 0 (Worldwide)

After the Musical Europe of the Renaissance (RIC 106), this journey through the history of early music, marked out by Jérôme Lejeune, arrives at the Baroque era. Here, after Italy in Monteverdi's time (RIC 107), we have music in France under the reign of Louis XIV. MUSIC IN THE DAYS OF LOUIS XIV. French music of the Grand Siècle has its roots in the polyphonic tradition of the Renaissance. During the reign of Louis XIV, the longest in the history of France (72 years), French music imposed itself as an important alternative to the Italian style, which seemed to conquer the rest of Europe quite quickly. Courtly music imposed its models in the capital, and provincial cities tried to keep pace with the means at their disposal. With the court's institutions (La Chapelle, L'Écurie, La Chambre du Roi, the XXIV Violins or the Académie royale), France created models that would prolong Louis XIV's Century during the Age of Enlightenment. The suite, the ouverture, the tragédie en musique, the grand motet and solo motets stand out as powerful identities of French music.

MONTEVERDI L’Orfeo • William Christie, cond; Dietrich Henschel ( Orfeo ); Maria Grazia Schiavo ( La Musica, Euridice, Proserpina ); Les Arts Florissants; Les Sacqueboutiers de Toulouse • DYNAMIC 33598 (DVD: 113: 00) Live: Madrid 5/19/2008


This is the third L’Orfeo I’ve seen on DVD, and it’s a real success. In style it fits among the theatrical productions that use over 20 singers and over 20 players, even adding some supernumeraries to fill the stage. Yet as a performance it should stand comparison with the intimate versions that we have heard on CD recently, since Pier Luigi Pizzi, the stage director who also designed the sets and costumes, replicated the venue of the first production in the Mantua residence. This may suggest that adhering to the minimal personnel of the alternative interpretation (a dozen singers and a dozen players, more or less) is not really necessary, or simply that Pizzi imagines a pretty big palace. But he imagines well, for this is the best stage set, the best costumes, the best lighting, and the best camerawork of the three versions I’ve seen. It is simply the best theatrical production of an opera that I’ve ever seen on DVD (not that I’ve seen very many). All three were made in live performances (the Harnoncourt video of 1979 was pantomimed in a studio 10 months after the performance was recorded), but the audience manifests itself only twice at the ends of the two halves. Christie’s was a single performance of May 19, 2008, at the Teatro Real in Madrid, while Jean Claude Malgoire’s was made at Tourcoing in October 2004 (also for Dynamic) and Stephen Stubbs’s was made in Amsterdam in July 1997 for Opus Arte.


Henschel is a fine Orfeo, a good actor as well as singer, but it is interesting that he has made a career not in early music but in contemporary opera. Schiavo, a mesmerizing stage presence, outdoes herself in adding not just La Musica but also Proserpina to her main role. At least seven previous conductors allowed Euridice to double as La Musica, and Rinaldo Alessandrini assigned Proserpina to his Euridice, but no other singer has combined all three roles. This is Pizzi’s way of identifying Pluto’s wife with Orfeo’s beloved. Christie directs from the keyboards, seeing his role as comparable to the pianist for a Schubert Lied. There is not a weak member of the supporting cast, and Christie’s players, supplemented by the brass from Toulouse, maintain their longstanding reputation. The Madrid production was associated with La Fenice as well. This can replace any previous video of the work that you may have, for it is absolutely superb.


FANFARE: J. F. Weber
-----------------------------------------

Recorded: Teatro Real, Madrid, May 2008
NTSC All Region; 16:9; Dolby Digital 5.1/LPCM 2.0; Approx. 113 mins.
Subtitled in French, Italian, English, German & Spanish

Jean-Jacques Rousseau hailed “Platée” as “the best musical play ever to be heard in our theatres.” In Robert Carsen’s production, the mythological events take place in the world of Parisian haute couture and Jupiter is portrayed as the fashion god Karl Lagerfeld (1933-2019) – who has now really been transferred up to Olympus. This ingeniously apt transposition of this satirical opera into the modern day has long been a hit! The renowned specialist in baroque music, William Christie, conducts his Les Arts Florissants, the Arnold Schoenberg Chor and a fantastic cast. “A candy-colored baroque dream” Salzburger Nachrichten // “A must-see - and not only for fashion freaks!” (Bühne)

Format: All Formats
Regions: All Regions
Picture size: 16:9
Approx running time: 295 Mins
Sound: DTS SurroundSound / LPCM STEREO
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian
Released: 01/04/2006
Number of discs: 3

Bonus:
Documentary about the opera including interviews with William Christie, David McVicar and the cast.
Informal portrait of Danielle de Niese in her first-ever Glyndebourne season.

"David McVicar's production of Giulio Cesare manages to combine serious insight with entertainment, bringing Handel's masterpiece to life in a powerful, convincing and highly intelligent way. In every line of the complex narrative the subtle nuances are apparent, reflecting perfectly the transparent and exquisite nature of Handel's musical expression. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in true surround sound, the outstanding singing of the all-star cast, led by a superb Sarah Connolly, and the vivid playing of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under the energising baton of William Christie reveal the colour and dramatic character of Handel's music in a most delightful manner." - BBC Opus Arte

"...a lively and imaginative production, directed by the ever resourceful David McVicar, enchanted and amused. …there was so much good acting, often whilst singing difficult and controlled coloratura." - Musical Opinion

"Christie conducts Handel beguilingly - in fact, I’d go so far as to suggest that nobody does Handel better. Christie drew brisk playing from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, crisp and punchy, yet he also carried the slow tempos with magical stillness. But the performance was about much more than sound alone: underneath the OAE's sheen there was an internalized musical depth to each of the numbers." - Opera

"...a production with performances to savour, led from the pit by William Christie and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on stylish form. Sarah Connolly...gave a complete performance full of intelligence and subtlety. Danielle de Niese stole the show as a wily, fun-filled sex kitten who renders men helpless with her irresistible charms." - Opera Now

Stage Director José Montalvo

REGIONS: All Regions
PICTURE FORMAT: 16:9
APPROX RUN TIME: 204 Mins
SOUND: DTS SURROUND / LPCM STEREO
SUBTITLES: English/French/German/Spanish/Italian
NO OF DISCS: 2

Inspired by a fable by La Fontaine, Rameau produced perhaps his most brilliant music for his penultimate great work, blending reality and the surreal on several levels.

This passionate new production by José Montalvo, stunningly choreographed by Montalvo and Dominique Hervieu, sets new standards in entertainment, charm and ingenuity. The sharp and spectacular multimedia staging does full justice to Rameau’s dazzling burlesque, confirming Olivier Rouvière’s statement that ‘Les Paladins is the last laugh of a witty 77-year old composer’. Recorded live in 2004 at the Paris Théâtre du Châtelet in true surround sound, both the virtuoso cast and Les Arts Florissants are in top form, clearly enjoying themselves in the masterful hands of William Christie.

Special Features:
* ‘Baroque that rocks!’ – A documentary film by Reiner E. Moritz featuring interviews with William Christie, Dominique Hervieu, Topi Lehtipuu, Stéphanie d’Oustrac and other members of the cast
* Illustrated Synopsis & Cast Gallery

REVIEWS:

"I doubt anything more witty, more spectacular, more ravishingly sexy will be seen on the opera stage this year." - Evening Standard

"This feast of captivating visual images, stunningly sensual choreography and glorious music is so rich that one can do no more than give a flavour." - Evening Standard

"A delirious confection of music, movement and technology... Les Paladins blends high-tech wizardry with breathtaking precision." - The Independent on Sunday

"A multimedia spectacular, dazzlingly well executed ...a real treat." - The Guardian

"...like eating a box of chocolates someone has laced with hallucinogens. It’s a fantastic, elegant, high energy production." - The Daily Telegraph

JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU IN CONVERTENDO

Nicolas Rivenq, Sophie Daneman, Jeffrey Thompson, Olga Pitarch
Orchestra and Chorus of Les Arts Florissants / William Christie

Picture Format: 16:9 Anamorphic
Sound Format: DTS Surround / LPCM Stereo
Menu languages: English
Running Time: 91 mins
Region Code: All regions
Subtitle: English/French/German/Spanish/Italian

Jean-Philippe Rameau was still a young musician when he moved to Lyon, where he probably composed his few surviving motets, including the Grand Motet In Convertendo, here performed by Les Arts Florissants under William Christie, which anticipates Rameau’s orchestration in his later operatic works. The wonderful fugue on Psalm 126 (verse 6) Euntes ibant et flebant (They went forth and wept) bears comparison with similar works by his contemporary, J. S. Bach.

In addition to a full performance of In Convertendo, this DVD presents some of Rameau’s key chamber music pieces and an insightful music documentary, The Real Rameau, which sheds light on the life of a composer who thought only of music, dreaming of a universal harmony and regarding music as an example to all the arts and, indeed, to all the sciences as well. Pictured by his contemporaries as a gaunt and taciturn man, ill-suited to courtly surroundings, his work was described by Berlioz as ‘one of the most sublime conceptions of dramatic music.'

‘These motets contain gorgeous music: they are to some degree concert music as much as religious music, and indeed the version of In Convertendo that has survived is the revised one for the Concert Spirituel. Lengthy orchestral parts, ravishing solos accompanied by flutes, occasional interludes with oboes and bassoons, make a lot of the music lyrical, if not elegiac.’ www.medieval.org

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

This outstanding live recording is the first ever collaboration between director Luc Bondy, conductor William Christie, and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. This recording was taken in December of 2004 at the Opera National de Paris. Les Arts Florissants, conducted by William Christie, does a beautiful job of performing the score by G. F. Handel.

Picture Format: 16:9
Sound Formats: PCM Stereo, 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish
Region Code: 0 (Worldwide)

The rare biblical opera 'David and Jonathas' is like 'Médée', one of the major works of the French Baroque composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier. The opera has been in the repertoire of Les Arts Florissants since 1988 and was first presented in a stage production by William Christie at the Aix-en-Provence Festival 2012. This DVD release is a special event for all Baroque music lovers.

Written a year after the death of Lully, this lyric tragedy allows Charpentier to develop beyond the religious dimension, a story of male friendship and forbidden love between David and Jonathas. An excellent cast gathered around William Christie and Les Arts Florissants brings young singers to the title roles: Pascal Charbonneau, a tenor and a former student of the European Academy of Music, sings David. The role of Jonathas is given to a woman: soprano Ana Quintans.

The staging by Andreas Homoki (Director of the Zurich Opera since summer 2012) focuses on the psychological aspect of this forbidden love story, giving a moving reading of the drama.

Direction: Andreas Homoki
Scenography: Paul Zoller
Costumes: Gideon Davey
Lighting: Franck Evin

R E V I E W:

Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s lack of official affiliation with the French court’s rather formal musical establishment under Jean-Baptiste Lully had two effects, as I noted in my other review this issue. First, he was free to do other things, and since Lully was not especially interested in sacred music, Charpentier was pretty much left on his own to develop music in the church, which he did in a grand style. As a sideline, he was also freed from the inevitable debate that arose between adherents of the French and Italian styles, for having been trained in Italy, he felt free to dip in and out of both with some alacrity. Second, as someone not under Lully’s sway, his desire to compose for the stage was rather curtailed, since the tragédie lyrique was not something he was able to compose officially. Not until 1693 did his only work in this genre, Medée, come to the stage, notably a number of years after Lully’s death and the implosion of his musical dynasty. In the meantime, he dabbled in the form with a series of Jesuit works for the Collège de Louis-le-Grand, of which David et Jonathas from 1688 was the most “operatic” (though of course he was able to get a number of pastorals and ballets performed at the Opéra). Consisting of the usual five acts and prologue, he altered the form somewhat, interspersing the Divertissement at the beginning and end of each act instead of placing it all in a bunch at the end. Otherwise, the flow of the work pretty much follows that of the normal secular works composed by Lully and others.

Insofar as the plot goes, this seems to have been a gloss on a play by Etienne Chamillart, performed at the same time, which fleshes out the story of the friendship of David and Jonathan. In a prologue, the seer (here called somewhat ironically La Pythonesse instead of the Witch of Endor) foretells Saul’s defeat through the shade of the prophet Samuel. Act One opens with the Philistines, here seemingly dressed in a motley sartorial concoction of djelabas, working clothes with suspenders, and bright red fezzes, cheering on David (sung here by high tenor Paul Charbonneau), while their King, Achis (sung with a resonant bass by Frédéric Caton, dressed like a Grand Mufti), decides to negotiate a truce with Saul (sung in an equally expressive and resonant bass by Neal Davies, dressed in a weskit and working-class pants). This annoys the general of the Philistine army, Joabel (sung in a lighter tenor by Kre?imir ?picer, who is somehow dressed in a strange turban and has a stringy long goatee), who then plots to destroy David. In the meantime, David meets with his friend Jonathas (sung in a pants role by soprano Ana Quintans, who sports a strange intellectual look replete with dark-rimmed glasses). In the Third Act, Saul’s jealousy explodes, and when Achis won’t execute David and Jonathas also refuses, he prepares to abrogate the truce with the Philistines. Jonathas is gravely wounded in the battle that follows, and although filled with remorse, Saul still attempts to kill David, even though mortally wounded himself. When Jonathas dies in David’s arms, David is overcome with despair, and even the proclamation by Achis that David is now the King of Israel fails to cheer him up.

As far as plots for operas go, this one is probably a step up from the usual opera seria or French classical plot of the time, for it contains a great deal of pathos and character development. If there is a moral to the story, it seems rather dispersed among the various turns of the plot. The music is set in a through-composed manner, with recitative and aria flowing easily in and out of each other, and Charpentier’s choice of limiting the dances to the beginnings and ends of each act allows for the plot to develop more smoothly.

Insofar as the music goes, the singing is first-rate and, as expected, William Christie’s venerable Arts Florissants ensemble is virtually flawless in their execution of Charpentier’s rich score. If this was a disc, I would purchase it in an instant. I found it every bit as good if not better than his release back in 1998 on Harmonia Mundi (which was re-released just this past year), and I like it much better than the old Erato recording with Opera Lyon. Unfortunately, it is not, and the reason is the staging. The set is a movable wooden box, with basically a large wood picnic table and chairs for props. The walls are movable, including an awkward moment in the final triumphal chorus scene at the end where the chorus is crowded together as the walls hem them in, looking very much at one moment like the interior of a cattle car. The costumes are also bizarre. The Israelites look very much like refugees from some sort of Russian steppe, sometimes with Hasidic hats, while the Philistines are a mismatched bunch of pseudo-Turkish peasants, looking for all the world like they desperately need both shaves and baths. The principals are not immune to this sartorial faux pas, for Jonathas looks like a bit of a nerd and David a working-class bloke straight from a factory. Even their “friendship” is supposed to heighten the homoerotic story, but Quintans doesn’t really act like a guy, just someone who has cross-dressed. Finally, Neal Davies has been directed to play Saul mostly on his knees, grimacing ferociously into the camera. Even the Pythoness and her hoard of priestesses look like they stepped right out of a rural diner in their checked gingham dresses. Of course, this has nothing to do with Charpentier or his dramatic music, or even the terrific musicality of the vocalists. But for visuals, this is yet another bizarre attempt to “update” the setting by doing something artistically unfathomable. Too bad; the artistry of the performers deserves better.

FANFARE: Bertil van Boer

Also available on Blu-ray

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.

Didone – Anna Bonitatibus
Enea – Kresimir Spicer
Iarba – Xavier Sabata
Ecuba – Maria Streijffert
Cassandra – Katherine Watson

Les Arts Florissants
William Christie, conductor

Clément Hervieu-Léger, stage director

Recorded live at the Théâtre de Caen, October 2011

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German
Running time: 176 mins
No. of DVDs: 1


R E V I E W:

This is the Cavalli DVD to own; it should also appeal to Monteverdi fans.

The recording companies have been doing well by Cavalli; Opus Arte have also given us a good recording of Ercole Amante on DVD and blu-ray (OA1020D/OABD7050D) and Dynamic have recently released CD and DVD/blu-ray recordings of Il Giasone. I enjoyed this new recording of La Didone at least as much as that of Ercole and much more than Il Giasone, where a good set of performances is vitiated for me by an over-busy production - see September Roundup. Fortunately the subject matter of La Didone mostly precludes the foolery which spoiled Il Giasone; even the temporary madness of Iarbas is sensitively handled.
 
The title might lead you to believe that La Didone covers only the same ground as Purcell’s Dido and Æneas, the fourth book of Virgil’s Æneid, but you’ll see from the inclusion of characters such as Cassandra and Anchises that it begins with the fall of Troy, as narrated in the earlier books of that work. The Prologue and Act 1 are set amid the ruins of Troy, vaguely suggested by the background.
 
Nor does the work end as you might expect with the death of Dido - instead she marries her long-time suitor Iarbas. There is some small justification for that in that Iarbas is at least mentioned by Virgil as having sought to marry Dido ( Æneid 4.195-218) and by Ovid, though the latter makes him invade Carthage after the death of Dido. Cavalli’s librettist took up the rage which possessed Iarbas on hearing of Dido’s love for Æneas: “protinus ad regem cursus detorquet Iarban/incenditque animum dictis atque aggerat iras.” (soon [the rumour] made its way round to King Iarbas, inflamed his mind with what was being said and stirred up his anger.) In this production the happy ending is sensitively handled, with Dido urged to suicide by the ghost of her husband but saved at the last moment by the fidelity of Iarbas who has been divinely saved from his madness. In this production, though Dido agrees to marry Iarbas, the mood remains sombre, as if she has in fact died spiritually, a neat solution, though one that is somewhat at odds with the words and music of rejoicing at that point:
 
Godiam dunque godiamo
sereni i dì, e ridenti,
né pur pronunciamo
il nome de’ tormenti.  

If that makes it seem as if the librettist had been playing around unduly with Virgil, it’s worth remembering that Purcell’s took equally great liberties in introducing the witches and making Mercury into a creature of theirs. Mercury is in fact a very serious messenger indeed in Virgil, as he is in Cavalli where the use of the epithet pio echoes Virgil’s oft-used epithet pius Æneas, with a stern message from Jupiter to stop womanising and get on with the job of founding the Roman Empire. In another departure from Virgil in la Didone, Æneas’ father Anchises is still alive when they arrive in Carthage.
 
What Cavalli has taken on in dealing with the fall of Troy and the loves of Dido and Æneas in one opera is certainly daunting; Purcell limited himself to the second half of the story. Berlioz originally had to split the action across two operas, as Colin Davis also did with the Chelsea Opera Group production with which he made his name as a Berlioz interpreter and which was my own introduction to Les Troyens. At almost three hours, La Didone is certainly a work of heavenly length, as, indeed is Ercole Amante, but neither outstays its welcome. It’s a fine work in the tradition of his teacher Monteverdi. The blurb describes it as ‘one of the earliest operas deserving of the name’, which begs the question what the others were, but it certainly fits. 
There is an earlier recording, edited and conducted by Fabio Biondi on Dynamic DVD 33537 and CD, CDS537. Like the present recording it was recorded live; with both you have to ignore a certain amount of stage shuffle. We don’t seem to have reviewed it on MusicWeb International but it received a mixed reception elsewhere, largely because of some vocal shortcomings. Try the audio version for yourself if you can from the Naxos Music Library.
 
There need be no serious reservations about any of the performances on this Opus Arte recording. You can judge for yourself because large chunks of this performance, one of just under an hour - and one of almost two hours - are available on YouTube. Anna Bonitatibus’ performance of Dido’s lament, with French subtitles, is here; neither sound nor picture is much to write home about by comparison with the finished product on DVD and blu-ray but these generous extracts will give you a good idea of the merits not only of her singing but also of the quality of that lament - a serious challenge to Purcell’s When I am laid in earth and even to Monteverdi’s Lamento d’Arianna.
 
Let me say at the outset that one major recommendation for this production is the lack of gimmicks in the production. All too often recent productions of opera have been spoiled by tomfoolery, such as the shift of the action of the Glyndebourne Rinaldo to a boarding school, thereby diminishing the value of some very good singing. There’s very little of that here, though I’m not sure why Venus has to depart from Troy and arrive in Carthage lugging a modern suitcase, or why Dido from the outset is not wearing the dark mourning clothes which Anna begs her to put aside. Worst of all, though mild by comparison with that Rinaldo, why does the same dead stag grace the stage in Troy and in Carthage? Why a dead stag when the hunters have been exclaiming about catching a boar? It’s handily placed to provide the blood which Dido smears on herself - and, apparently on the conductor during the curtain call.
 
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 - just occasionally I thought that he pushed the tone a little too hard as he was warming up at the start of Act 1. In quieter moments he sounds mellifluous right from the beginning, especially when he bids farewell to Dido. I’d encountered Ms Bonitatibus before as Juno in Ercole Amante and Krešimir špicer as an effective Ulysses in the Virgin Classics DVD of Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse (4906129). They lead a strong cast here and I hope to hear both again.
 
There are absolutely no weak spots in the singing; the only time I had even the slightest concern was when Francesco Javier Borda as Jupiter failed to be quite convincing with the cruelly deep notes which Cavalli has given him. Otherwise he manages the very different roles of Jupiter and Sinon extremely well, exulting in the wicked deception which he has wrought in the latter role. Cavalli’s audience would be classically savvy enough to recall that he was the inventor of the Trojan horse.
 
Of the other dual roles, Ascanius and Cupid are required to double by the plot and Terry Wey, boyish in appearance and tone of voice, carries off both excellently. Only the combination of Creusa and Juno is problematic - no sooner have we got used to seeing Tehila Nini Goldstein as the first than she has to change gear considerably as the exulting goddess. Claire Debono doubles Iris in the Prologue and Venus. Having played the former pretty straight, I thought her just a little too coquettish as Venus. That does at least mirror her reputation in the renaissance, as depicted in Boticelli’s Venus and Mars.
 
One other small reservation concerns Anchises; he’s frequently referred to as decrepit - in Virgil Æneas has to carry him on his back and in Cavalli’s libretto he calls himself decrepito - yet he looks rather too sprightly here. We wouldn’t want him to sing in a comic old-man’s voice - this is La Didone not La Calisto, where Hugues Cuénod had such a field day - so it’s just a convention that we have to respond to with willing disbelief. Similarly, the abruptness of Creusa’s death, her dying exclamation, subsequent ghostly reappearance, and the expiration of Coroebus must be thought of as theatrical conventions just like similar abrupt deaths and reappearances in Jacobean Revenge Plays and Victorian melodrama. By and large, there’s nothing here that has to be taken as convention that we are not likely to find in a Handel opera. There is some scope for comic relief in the form of Iarbas’s madness, but it’s hardly slapstick; it’s less emotive than Vivaldi and Handel were to make the madness of Orlando, and it’s certainly not overdone here. Nor is the brief scene where Neptune grapples with Jupiter for interfering in his domain over-played.
 
That death of Corœbus gives Cavalli the opportunity to write a lament for Cassandra of a kind beloved of audiences of the day. It provides a foretaste of Dido’s lament later; it was the popularity of Il Lamento d’Arianna that not only saved it when the rest of Monteverdi’s L’Arianna was lost but also led its composer to rejig it as a lament for the Virgin Mary.
 
William Christie’s direction can almost be taken to guarantee a fine performance and that’s the case here. We see him standing at the outset before quite a large orchestra, in front of a harpsichord. I don’t know how often he plays it, but there seems to be another keyboard in the continuo - it and the other continuo instruments can (just) be heard where it matters and that’s a pleasant change from some modern recordings where the harpsichord might just as well not be there. 
 
The recording sounds well enough as played on television but much better via my audio system. I haven’t seen or heard the blu-ray version, which doubtless improves on the sound and picture of the DVD, but you certainly wouldn’t be in any way disappointed with the latter. The camera-work is mostly unobtrusive; in the brighter lighting of Acts 2 and 3, the chitarrone sticking up into the picture is a little distracting, but it probably could not have been avoided. Just occasionally individual voices catch the microphone less than ideally as the actor moves across the stage; this particularly when heard on headphones. Slightly more often the stage noises are a little distracting, especially when heard in audio only. 
The notes are far too minimal - a two-page essay in three languages on the Cavalli revival, but no libretto or even synopsis, just a brief plot outline, which is a serious problem. The subtitles, though good, are no substitute. There’s an online Italian libretto and another with English translation. There are subtitles in English, French and German only; could we not also have had them in the original Italian? The English translation is mainly accurate, though there’s the odd inevitably typo and an occasional questionable translation - why call Giove and Mercurio, the Latin deities, by their Greek names, Zeus and Hermes in the subtitles? When Dido describes herself in the final scene as Iarbas’ ancella e sposa, the first word signifies handmaid or slave, not friend as it’s translated.
 
As I was tidying up this review I noticed that one music magazine has made this the thoroughly deserved DVD/Blu-ray Recording of the Month, a title which I was also tempted to bestow. If you wish to have only one Cavalli recording in your collection, this would vie strongly for that honour, ahead of Ercole Amante and alongside the inauthentic but hugely enjoyable Raymond Leppard recording of La Calisto (no longer available on CD). You may even find yourself preferring La Didone to Monteverdi.
 
-- Brian Wilson , MusicWeb International