# Dido's Lament



## Quarrel (Feb 16, 2014)

About Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and especially the great aria "Dido's lament" , what in your opinion is the best performance of it ? 
I've listened to a stunning performance that I unfortunitly have only a fragment of. and I will sincerely appreciate more information about the record and the performer .


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Sounds like Emma Kirkby to me - isn't it this one?






This is actually the only version I know, so please correct me if I'm mistaken.


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## Quarrel (Feb 16, 2014)

It is .. I can not thank you enough!


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## Guest (Feb 17, 2014)

Dame Janet Baker, 1961, Decca, is the best recording I have heard.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

DrMike said:


> Dame Janet Baker, 1961, Decca, is the best recording I have heard.
> View attachment 35316


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## Quarrel (Feb 16, 2014)

Is there any similar music to be recommended in terms of mood and melody ?


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## Pip (Aug 16, 2013)

Without doubt Kirsten Flagstad









or Leopold Stokowski in his orchestra version.

or listen here

[video]http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=flagstad%20dido&sm=1[/video]


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## Morrelli (Jan 26, 2014)

Quarrel said:


> Is there any similar music to be recommended in terms of mood and melody ?


Hi Quarrel, my favourite performance of "Dido's lament" comes from Andreas Scholl, on the album "O Solitude"

I too love this piece, check out the following :

O, Let me weep - Purcell (sung by Emma Kirkby)

Polifemo : Alto Giove - Nicola Porpora (sung by Philippe Jaroussky)

Amaddigi Di Gaula - Handel, HWV11 (sung by Max Emanuel Cencic)

Also, try the following religious pieces :

Stabat Mater - Marco Rosano (sung by Andreas Scholl)

Introduzione al Miserere "Filiae Maestae Jerusalem" (Part 11) - Vivaldi (sung by Andreas Scholl)

Enjoy


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Janet Baker and Flagstad are fabulous. Leontyne Price and Jessye Norman also are wonderful. Baker is my favorite.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

This is the best version EVER! Flagstad's last aria sung on stage with farewell speech at age 60:



. The voice is still amazing and the emotion is the most palpable I've ever heard in this very emotional aria. The final pp Remember Me will break your heart.


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## Philmwri (Apr 8, 2011)

Elin Manahan Thomas is amazing in this. I've never heard better diction in English language opera.


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## Cantabile (May 24, 2014)

Janet Baker is also my favourite as Dido.


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## Stargazer (Nov 9, 2011)

This one is my favorite. I feel like she overacts in it, which is kind of distracting, but she sings it wonderfully.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Jessye Norman, even better on the CD:


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## BaronScarpia (Apr 2, 2014)

Janet Baker was a wonderful Dido. I also like Simone Kermes's rendition, but my favourite is probably that of Nancy Argenta:


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

. Now this is a very different take, but in it's own way as wonderful as many by the artists already mentioned. This is by the exceptionally gifted pop singer Jeff Buckley before he died by accidental drowning. He has one of the most beautiful tenors I've ever heard in pop music and the ornamentation he uses is both beautiful and adds to the pathos of the piece. I encourage you to check it out.


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Nice posts... thanks everybody! 

What about Maureen Forrester with piano accompaniment? 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VncZznq-b90


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## Scarr (Jun 3, 2014)

I have a lovely recording of the Lament by Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. Human and no melodrama. Baker is classic but I find her too regal, like Tebaldi singing Tosca. Troyanos is moving. Norman and Flagstad have to rein in their voices and therefore lack the intimacy needed to get to the heart of the tragedy. The more recent Connolly recording was interesting but I found her performance too low key to register.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Scarr said:


> Baker is classic but I find her too regal, like Tebaldi singing Tosca.


But Dido is a queen whereas Tosca isn't.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> . Now this is a very different take, but in it's own way as wonderful as many by the artists already mentioned. This is by the exceptionally gifted pop singer Jeff Buckley before he died by accidental drowning. He has one of the most beautiful tenors I've ever heard in pop music and the ornamentation he uses is both beautiful and adds to the pathos of the piece. I encourage you to check it out.
> View attachment 42803


It's a tribute to the simple, direct pathos of Purcell's inspired music (and probably its limited range of nine notes) that it can be sung affectingly by a voice without classical technical training. For some reason he messes up the melismas on "but ah!"; it seems as if he can't remember the notes. He sounds more sad and lonely than tragic and noble, but still it's moving. Unusual performances can make us think fresh thoughts about music we know well.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> It's a tribute to the simple, direct pathos of Purcell's inspired music (and probably its limited range of nine notes) that it can be sung affectingly by a voice without classical technical training. For some reason he messes up the melismas on "but ah!"; it seems as if he can't remember the notes. He sounds more sad and lonely than tragic and noble, but still it's moving. Unusual performances can make us think fresh thoughts about music we know well.


Beautifully written. Buckley had an enormous range for a rock star so he could have handled more notes easily. I would suggest that what you take as messing up the melismas was just him taking pop star liberties with the music. I wish he had taken liberties with me before he passed;-) Sorry, I couldn't help that.


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