The year 2001 marked the moment when Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel joined Glossa, starting a recording collaboration which to date (2013) has yielded twenty-plus titles. The first of all these was this memorable Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell, at the time a somewhat unusual offering from an ensemble which had hitherto made of French Baroque music the cornerstone of its activities.
Hervé Niquet, conductor
Laura Pudwell, Dido & Sorceress
Peter Harvey, Aeneas
Salomé Haller, Belinda & First Witch
Marie-Louise Duthoit, Second Woman & Second Witch
Nicolas Maire, The Sailor
Matthew White, The Spirit
Le Concert Spirituel, choir and orchestra
Recorded in Paris (Notre Dame du Liban), in May 2000
Engineered by Manuel Mohino
Produced by Dominique Daigremont
Like, however later with King Arthur (both on CD and DVD), and with The Fairy Queen and The Indian Queen (for the time being only in live performances), Niquet infuses this early British (semi-)opera with a subtle touch of Frenchness – needless to say historically eminently-justifiable – making his version a delightful and different listening experience.
