Gavin Bryars - Dido and Orfeo (after Purcell and Gluck) (2023)

This music, for saxophone, viola, cello and piano, was written by Gavin Bryars for ballet and involves a reworking of music from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, just as a previous collaboration, Amjad (BCGBCD10), had taken Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty as its source. The music originates in extracts from the two operas chosen by the choreographer - sometimes only forty seconds or less - but recomposed into longer pieces. A few of these, like Purcell's Dido's Lament, are well-known, others less so. But each piece, however much it is transformed, extended or modified, is recognisable from the original. The music was recorded live during the ballet's world tour.

Ida Toninato: soprano, alto and baritone saxophones
Jennifer Thiessen: viola
Jean-Christophe Lizotte: cello
Njo Kong Kie: piano, musical director