Dido and Aeneas -Blu-ray-

Product Description The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera join forces for Wayne McGregor's acclaimed fusion of music and movement, whose richly layered designs perfectly complement Purcell's telling of a classical tale of love thwarted by evil powers. With Sarah Connolly and Lucas Meachem in the title roles, Christopher Hogwood conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Filmed with High Definition cameras and recorded in true surround sound. Press Reviews "The wide open spaces and minimalist designs contrive a vast universe against which a very intimate human tragedy can be teased out, presented with an almost classical purity and restraint." (BBC Music Magazine) "Belinda is unaffectedly played by Lucy Crowe, her bright tones and precise articulation all one could desire. Sarah Connolly, whether tormented by love or grief, is an equally ideal Dido." (Gramophone) Cast Sarah Connolly (Dido) Lucas Meachem (Aeneas) Lucy Crowe (Belinda) Sara Fulgoni (Sorceress) Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Christopher Hogwood ProductionCompany: The Royal OperaStage Director: Wayne McGregor Disc InformationCatalogue Number: OABD7049DDate of Performance: 2009Running Time: 72 minutesSound: 2.0 PCM & 5.1 DTSAspect Ratio: 1080i High Definition / 16:9Subtitles: EN, FR, DE, ES, ITLabel: Opus Arte Review Dido and Aeneas has become fair game for choreographers. Mark Morris's celebrated 1989 staging put the singers in the pit, with dancers enacting the roles onstage, including the choreographer himself in the dual role of Dido and the Witch. Wayne McGregor takes a more traditional approach in this production, derived from a 2006 La Scala staging, and here seen in a 2009 Covent Garden incarnation (where it formed a double bill with Handel's Acis and Galatea, not included in this release). Here the singers take their conventional place onstage, moving with commendably economical gesture. McGregor clearly understands that their singing itself is their chief expressive instrument; nothing in the staging detracts from the communicative power of the vocal line. The staging, needless to say, includes some actual choreography, which I found less convincing than the handling of the principals and chorus. McGregor uses a corps of Royal Ballet dancers, who are at work not only during the opera's dance interludes but in some of the sung portions, lurking in the backgr