español | français Medieval Renaissance Baroque Clasicism Opera  5 STARS All periods MEDIEVAL RENAISSANCE BAROQUE CLASICISM OPERA ** LA DIDONE FRANCESCO CAVALLI Thomas Hengelbrock Balthasar-Neumann Ensemble Yvonne Kenny, Laurence Dale Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 405472773542 1997 - 142:00 min. This is the live recording which follows the performances at Schwetzingen and the Berlin Staatsoper. Thomas Hengelbrock adapts the Didone by Cavalli, Venetian pupil of Monteverdi, to his own vision. Relying on the Contarini manuscript, his continuo is filled out and the dénouement, setting aside Busenello's libretto, is revised. Dido does not marry Iarba but dies, as in the ancient myth. Thus a powerful tragic coloration dominates. Sombre and harrowing throughout Act I (the Trojan's agonies and deaths), especially in the final scene when Yvonne Kenny breathes life into the role of Dido (the obsessive and fatal passion of a woman in love who has sacrificed everything for the one she loves). Didone is a youthful work (1641), earlier than Giasone (1649), Calisto (1651) and Xerse (1654), which René Jacobs revealed with his known intelligence (Harmonia Mundi). Didone is linked to the operas of Monteverdi's maturity, between Ulisse (1640) and Poppea (1643). Hengelbrock analyses the drama's unity with finesse and nuance. The incantatory density of the bel canto is realised thanks to the vocal trio of Kenny (Dido), Plust (Iarba) and Dale (Aeneas), which from its Orfeo (Jacobs, HM) onwards understands the suave and expressive vocal lyricism of Venetian opera of the 1640s. Articulation is sometimes thick, but the involvement is seductive. The conductor's emotion restores the exceptional psychological depth, that Busenello knew, of the characters, in the persons of Hecuba, Cassandra and the mordant Sino, creatures of despair and cynicism who would be rounded out in Poppea, for which Busenello would write the libretto for Monteverdi two years later. In revealing Didone's truth and refinement, Hengelbrock confirms Jacob's intuition about Cavalli's genius. The first recording deserves the warmest welcome. HUGO STRAUSS ABOUT US | CONTRIBUTE   web map - home page - cover Legal warning Copyright 2003, Goldberg. info@goldberg-magazine.com