Henry Purcell - The Fairy Queen / English National Opera : KULTUR VIDEO

Based on an incident in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry Purcell's The Fairy Queen is extraordinarily beautiful and contains some of the most inspired arias penned for the English language. David Pountney's production for the English National Opera is a spectacular offering as phantasmagorical as the enchanted dreams in the magical moonlit woods. The tale is a joyful fusion of music, dance and comedy which brings alive the splendor of the Baroque for a modern audience. Thomas Randle, Simon Rice, Richard Van Allan, Yvonne Kenny.

Opera in 3 parts, Sung in English

Choreographed and Staged by Quinny Sacks

Titania: Yvonne Kenny
Oberon: Thomas Randle
Puck: Simon Rice
Theseus/Hymen: Richard Van Allan
The Indian Boy: Arthur Pita

Orchestra And Chorus Of The English National Opera - $16.74

Purcell - Dido & Aeneas / Maria Ewing, Karl Daymond, Collegium Musicum 90 : KULTUR VIDEO

Dido: MARIA EWING
Aeneas: KARL DAYMOND
Belinda: REBECCA EVANS
Sorceress: SALLY BURGESS
Second Woman: PATRICIA ROZARIO
First Enchantress: MARY PLAZAS
Second Enchantress: PAMELA HELEN STEPHEN
Aeneas' Lieutenant: JAMIE MCDOUGALL
Mercury: FRANÇOIS TESTORY
Voice Of Mercury: JAMES BOWMAN
Conductor: RICHARD HICKOX
Director: PETER MANIURA

Purcell's much-loved tragic opera is an intense tale of heroism, passion, betrayal and ultimate tragedy, played out against a backdrop of fiery rituals, evil spells and pageantry. It was filmed entirely on location at Hampton Court House, England, where spectacular settings are created in the house and grounds.

Dido, Queen of Carthage, and Prince Aeneas, a fugitive lately arrived in her realm after the fall of Troy, fall in love; Dido's confidante Belinda urges her to yield to his suit, and they go off on a hunting party which, as a seventeenth-century audience would readily have understood, symbolises Aeneas's sexual capture of Dido. Meanwhile, skulking in the gloom of a cave, an evil Sorceress and her Enchantresses (an addition of Tate's not found in Virgil) plot to destroy Dido by conjuring up a false vision of Mercury to send Aeneas on his way; this is duly done when the hunting party is scattered by a sudden thunderstorm. Soon afterwards, as the Trojan mariners prepare to set sail, the Sorceress and Enchantresses arrive at the quayside to gloat; Dido upbraids Aeneas for his faithlessness and furiously dismisses him but after he has left she dies, broken-hearted, in Belinda's arms.

The dramatic power of the piece is complemented by its musical riches, which are shared among all the individual singers and the various colourful groups: urbane courtiers, gleefully malignant witches, salty mariners portrayed by the chorus.

Dido & Aeneas is not only one of the most perfect operas ever written but also an ideal opera for television. The extreme dramatic compression of its plot, which is one of the few grounds on which it is open to criticism, is even an advantage in film terms. Cinema and television audiences are extremely familiar with fast cutting, rapid plot development and the emotional twists and turns of much contemporary drama. A classical tragedy compressed into just under one hour is thus not as implausible as it might at first appear.

The location, Hampton Court House, is an empty mid-eighteenth century mansion with its own, slightly decayed, formal gardens and grounds. Ancient Carthage on the coast of North Africa, the setting for the story, was a trading city and a melting pot of nations. Niek Kortekaas, the designer, decided to create a rich yet primitive world, lit by fire (for which there are many references both literal and metaphorical in the text) in which Dido's court draws together elements of many cultures and traditions fusing them into a society dominated by ritual and pageantry

The challenge of working on film was a new one for most of the cast and it allowed a great subtlety in the vocal performances since the artists did not have to worry about projecting their performances into an auditorium. Magnetic performers like Maria Ewing were able to relish intimate effects which would not have registered in an opera house. Equally the tight focus of film work with its close-ups and reaction shots called for a style of acting quite different from that employed in a theatre and one which the cast embraced with great enthusiasm. I hope that this film captures both the personal intimacy and the public tragedy which lie at the heart of Purcell's great masterpiece. Peter Maniura - $16.67

Purcell: The Indian Queen : Naxos

"Mr. Purcell's" new music for the 1695 revival of Dryden's The Indian Queen is an unqualified delight. The Scholars Baroque Ensemble is a period-performance repertory group that approaches the score with cheerfully infectious enthusiasm. The results are charming. The Indian Queen is Purcell's last theater piece, and whether it was performed before or just after his untimely death at the age of 35 is uncertain. The first performance used his younger brother Daniel's Masque of Hymen as a conclusion; most performances and recordings do the same, and even if Daniel is noticeably the lesser of the two composers, the stylistic "fit" is excellent. Very good sound. --Paul Turok - $5.28

Purcell - Divine Hymns (Harmonia Sacra) / Les Arts Florissants, Christie : Virgin Classics

William Christie's New Recording on Virgin Classics is a Programme of English Sacred Works Drawn Largely from the Two Volumes of Playford's Harmonia Sacra, Or Divine Hymns and Dialogues (1688/1693). The Published Pieces Are Mostly by Purcell and his Friend and Teacher John Blow, and it is Purcell who Dominates Here, with Some of his Most Ravishing Sacred Songs, Including "Tell Me, Some Pitying Angel" (The Blessed Virgin's Expostulation), the Dramatic Scena "in Guilty Night", Describing Saul¹s Fateful Visit to the Witch of Endor, One of the Early Funeral Sentences, and the Exquisite "Evening Hymn". Blow is Represented by Two Settings, "Peaceful is He and Most Secure" and the Antiphon "Salvator Mundi". The Programme also Includes Works by Pelham Humfrey, with Whom Purcell Studied, and William Croft, Like Purcell Organist of the Chapel Royal and Westminster Abbey. - $9.14

Purcell: Theatre Music : Decca

- $33.65

Purcell - King Arthur / Gens, McFadden, Piau, S. Waters, J. Best, Padmore, Paton, Salomaa, Les Arts Florissants, Christie : Erato (Warner Classics)

The Fairy Queen may be the most famous of Purcell's "semi-operas" (spoken dramas with extended musical items incorporated--not to say dropped in), but King Arthur, with text by John Dryden, is undoubtedly the most satisfying. Not only is the music captivating on its own terms, it's unusually well-integrated into the action--for example, one musical scene depicts the heathen Saxons performing a pre- battle ceremony; another shows good spirits guiding King Arthur and his men through a dark swamp while evil spirits try to mislead them. The first three acts have a lot of vivid battle and pastoral music, but the real goodies come on the second disc: the first duet of Act IV, in which seductive sirens Sandrine Piau and Claron McFadden attempt to lure Arthur into a stream ("come, come naked in, for we are so..."), and the masque in Act V in honor of Britannia, which includes (in addition to winning music) a Chamber-of-Commerce-like paean to British products such as fish, wool, and wheat, a rowdy drinking song with some pointed anticlerical sentiment, and the famous song "Fairest isle" (beguilingly sung by Véronique Gens). The multinational cast handles the English text well; other standouts include the marvelous tenor Mark Padmore and bass Petteri Salomaa. This recording was prepared right after Graham Vick's wildly successful production of the full Dryden/Purcell text at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris (the booklet has some impressive photos); not surprisingly, the performances have an extroverted theatrical energy usually missing from concert versions of this music. --Matthew Westphal - $23.69

Purcell: Ayres for the Theatre : Hyperion UK

- $9.90

Gardiner Purcell Collection - Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary, Birthday Ode "Come Ye Sons of Art" : Erato

- $8.22

Purcell: Music for Queen Mary : EMI Classics

- $8.76

Purcell: The Fairy Queen / Harrhy, Nelson, Priday, Smith, Thomas, Varcoe, Gardiner : Archiv Produktion

This 1981 recording was the first period-instrument version of Purcell's most famous "semi-opera." This Restoration-era hybrid was a play with a complete (spoken) script plus numerous musical numbers for soloists, chorus, and pit orchestra. The Fairy Queen is based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, although you'd never know it from the music, which has (typically for the genre) no real connection to the plot. (Most of the songs and dances are masques performed for the entertainment of Titania, Oberon, or Hippolytus.) The advantage to this is that Purcell's score can be performed fairly well on its own. The Fairy Queen includes some of Purcell's best-loved comic scenes ("The Drunken Poet" and "Coridon and Mopsa") and songs ("Hark the echoing Air," "Ye gentle spirits," and "Hark how all things in one sound rejoice"--the last sung here by Jennifer Smith, sounding more beautiful than on any recording she's made since). Other highlights include the "Masque of the Four Seasons" and an allegory wherein Night, Mystery, Secrecy, and Sleep appear to sing Titania to her rest. Standouts from a solid cast include sweet-voiced, nimble soprano Judith Nelson and baritone Stephen Varcoe, whose solos as Winter and as Night are breathtaking. --Matthew Westphal - $30.40