Unsung. The New Yorker, May 25, 2009.
At 2:45 in this video, Marie-Nicole Lemieux sings a portion of the great Didone lament discussed in the column. Also featured is the young Finnish tenor Topi Lehtipuu (see his celestial Vivaldi below). Recommended recordings: Emmanuelle Haïm's superb Lamenti disc, with Lemieux, Lehtipuu, et al; the DVD of Herbert Wernicke's enchanting production of Calisto, with René Jacobs conducting; Jacobs's lively Giasone, presently available only via MP3 download; and a spare, stylish Ormindo with Les Paladins on the Pan Classics label. I can't endorse Thomas Hengelbrock's Didone on account of its excessive cuts. Recommended books: Ellen Rosand's Opera in Seventeenth-Century Venice, Wendy Heller's Emblems of Eloquence.
