"We tend to think we know everything and live with our comfortable prejudices and routines as indeed it is easier to acknowledge than to discover. Thus fared Baroque music; it was rediscovered by the middle of the twentieth century, retrieved by investigative and passionate souls from the oblivion in which it had been precipitated in the holy name of Progress. Not unlike ideas, however, music is very dependent on individual attitudes. It is not felt or interpreted in France or The Netherlands as in Italy or Spain and over the last few years we've been blessed by a surprisingly wide variety of savours and colours reflecting the schools and the temperament of the various interpreters. Alpha, who's calling it is to follow and reveal artistic diversity, release the first recording of the MusicAeterna from Novosibirsk, conducted by Teodor Currentzis: a lively illustration of a new approach emanating from an alternative perspective. For citizens of London,Amsterdam or Paris, Dido & Aeneas is a civilised, slightly watered-down court opera. Seen from Siberia however, it is an intolerably tense and purifying ritual drama, rooted in the sacred origins of tragedy.What you will hear has no relation to the 'conventional' stylistic consensus governing the small world of ancient music. Here the East takes 18th-century baroque by storm, giving the myth of Carthage's Queen a weight and a sensuality which we're not used to. To sum up : a real performance, in the ancient and truly philosophical meaning of the work." Jean-Paul Combet, founder and artistic director, Alpha

Artists

Simone Kermes (Dido), Dimitris Tiliakos (Aeneas), Deborah York (Belinda), Oleg Ryabets (Sorceress), Margarita Mezentseva, Sofia Fomina, Yana Mamonova, Elena Kondratova, Valeria Safonova & Alexandre Zverev

New Siberian Singers (chamber choir of the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera & Ballet Theatre) & MusicAeterna, Teodor Currentzis