Time flies, and perhaps the charming and once-familiar story needs to be told again. In 1950 Kirsten Flagstad, then widely held to be the greatest of living singers, signed a contract by which she pledged to give 20 performances of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in return for (basically) tender loving care and two pints of stout a day. It was witnessed by Max Lorenz and Wilhelm Furtwängler. The performances took place in actor Bernard Miles’s private theatre, first home of the Mermaid which was later established in London’s Puddle Dock. There were two runs, the first in 1951, the second two years later. In between, at Abbey Road in 1952, came this recording.

Flagstad was then 57, and the Belinda of that production, Maggie Teyte, a veteran of 64. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was brought in to take over her part in the recording which, with a Greek Sorceress, conferred upon this English opera a variety of accents, all clear and “good” but unmistakably foreign. Schwarzkopf was also required to sing a duet with herself (“Fear no danger”) and to deliver to Aeneas his marching orders from above. She does everything with expressive intelligence and a sense of style, but it is not one of her happiest undertakings. They should have tried Margaret Ritchie. Flagstad sings with warmth and dignity, the lower part of her voice rich and pure as ever, the upper notes somewhat worn except when producing that wonderfully poised soft G. In general, the performance under Geraint Jones will probably be found too warm and not lively enough for modern tastes.

Of the “extra” items, the earlier recording of Dido’s Lament is most apposite and welcome, its quicker tempo and slightly more impersonal style probably making it more congenial to today’s listeners. On the Bach and Handel arias is bestowed a wealth of tone that doesn’t quite suit them. The remastering no doubt succeeds in catching every signal in the original recordings, which it also presents in a dry, hard, full-frontal glare.