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.
“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.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 *****
“[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.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2012
