From Dido's desperate love to Mary's poignant fervour...
This sumptuous album, combines the sacred and profane, the cult of the Virgin Mary as opposed to Dido, Queen of Carthage, almost exclusively by 17th century Venetian Baroque composers.
It includes the iconic aria [Dido's Lament], Cavalli's Lamento di Didone and Scarlatti's Didone delirante, long thought lost, and a previously unrecorded cantata by Faggioli.
The vocally distinctive, theatrically brilliant French mezzo Stephanie d'Oustrac is accompanied by Ens Amarillis and Violaine Cochard.
Canzon
Lamento di Didone
Fantaisie - les pleurs d'Orphee ayant perdu sa femme
Didone delirante - Sinfonia
Didone delirante - Se non di me del Regno
Didone delirante - Caro nome
Didone delirante - Ma la mente agitata
Concerto in Fa Maggiore - Grave
Concerto in Re Maggiore - Allegro
Concerto in Re Maggiore - Adagio
Didone delirante - Scena di Didone
Concerto in La minore - Largo
Concerto in La minore - Fuga
Didone abbandonata da Enea - O frodi
Didone abbandonata da Enea - Il mio coro piu non ti chiede
Didone abbandonata da Enea - Ferma ti
Didone abbandonata da Enea - Se non puo seguirti il pie
Passacalle
O Maria
Sinfonia Primo Tuono
Il pianto della Madonna
Sinfonia Sesto Tuono
Dido's lament
December 2011
*****
“the sequence never feels like a series of bleeding chunks - indeed, among recordings of 17th-century Italian music, this programme stands out for its musical integrity and cohesiveness...d'Oustrac responds to the music's vacillating moods with a gorgeous variety of vocal effects and colours.”
February 2012
“[d'Oustrac] demonstrates arresting dramatic personality and intelligence with text to go with a mezzo voice with enough flexibility, lyrical composure and fragility enough to prevent her from sounding like an identikit raving lady.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.