Harmonia Mundi can already claim a hat-trick of Dido s: Joel Cohen’s little-known but pioneering reading of 1979 from Boston (nla); William Christie’s forgettable first account in 1986, with the unidiomatic Guillemette Laurens as the Carthaginian queen; and eight years later a version from Nicholas McGegan with the enticing Lorraine Hunt in the title-role. Now the label bravely adds to its catalogue yet another version of baroque opera’s most recorded work. Of course, it is a conveniently short piece and arguably one whose concentrated musical language and quicksilver dramatic juxtapositions are especially well suited to the recorded medium, giving full rein to Purcell’s imagination and raising it out of its habitually stilted stage conventions. This is where Charles Mackerras’s 1967 Archiv recording (7/95 – nla) succeeded, especially in Tatiana Troyanos’s exquisite pacing of Dido’s noble and tragic demise; also successful in bringing out the work’s full imaginative impact were the recent smaller-scale but atmospheric accounts from Andrew Parrott (Emma Kirkby as Dido) and Ivor Bolton (Della Jones on Teldec, 9/93 – nla) and – the pick of the crop until now – Christopher Hogwood, with the sensual immediacy of Catherine Bott as Dido.
Rene Jacobs is one of the very few luminaries of the current baroque dramatic scene not to have tackled this singular masterpiece until now, and he does so, like Hogwood, with a gaggle of top-class singers; when you can casually call on Maria Cristina Kiehr to sing her tuppenceworth of Second Woman, not to mention Robin Blaze as Spirit and Dominique Visse as First Witch, it augurs well for a new benchmark recording. Rosemary Joshua’s Belinda is a straightforward, dramatically unobtrusive but essential presence, never manipulated to be more of an influence in Dido’s life than Purcell clearly relates in the lady-in-waiting’s gut offerings of advice, revealed in ‘Pursue thy conquest love’. Of course, Act 2 is where things really get going, after the fairly perfunctory introduction to the solid hunk that is Aeneas. Whether you choose to cast your Sorceress as male (Hogwood plumps for David Thomas) or as a crooning hag, he or she has a crucial part in the overall ‘temperament’ of a performance, neither to be camped up unduly nor, similarly, made too earnest in delivery. Susan Bickley is a fine Sorceress of the old school, precise and yet retaining an authority through quality of tone rather than mere pantomine. This whole section is slowed down by Jacobs, who elasticates the chorus, ‘Harm’s our delight’, around the witches. It is a brilliantly conceived, decidedly continental approach to dramatic gesture (Visse is terrifying), yet it adds something original to an opera whose odd mixtures have rarely been understood by foreign groups.
Jacobs’ richly paletted, pacey and boldly theatrical reading will prove to be a breath of fresh air to those who feel that Purcell’s music in general can withstand being ‘un-Englished’ for want of new approaches to colour, characterisation and the composer’s inimitable lyrical undercurrent. The odd instrumental dance seems a touch lacking in native roughage (and ‘Destruction’s our delight’ seeks too much attention), but the finely proportioned Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment bound through the Grove’s Dance are even more purposeful in the First Sailor’s song which opens Act 3. Then we have the great music, set up acutely in distant foreboding after Dido’s initial air, way back in Act 1. Lynne Dawson will disappoint few in her devastated, long-breathed and honest ‘Lament’, elegantly turned (if not vocally peerless) and, crucially, consequential of so much that has passed before. The last chorus is more beautifully sung than I’ve ever heard: a true funeral rite. These are the elusive ingredients of a compelling and truly involved reading. Imaginative and invigorating, Jacobs has revitalised Dido, taking it further away from the banks of Chelsea to a more universal world where this masterpiece surely belongs. Fourth time lucky for Harmonia Mundi and a good bet all round.'