If you don't mind having only part of the opera and it being sung in English, then this recording, in excellent sound, can be thoroughly recommended. Janet Baker, as one would expect, is a superb Dido but my main interest was the opportunity to hear Ronald Dowd, a much admired but woefully under-recorded tenor. I well remember him singing Aeneas at a concert performance in London and many other roles, a wholehearted singer always giving good value for money. At one stage, he was considered for the role of Walther in Reginald Goodall's "Mastersingers" before Alberto Remedios was chosen. It would have been interesting to hear Dowd's no doubt very different interpretations of that and other Wagner roles. But "Rowdy Dowdy" might not have been amenable to Goodall's meticulous training regime! I can also recommend his performances in Tristan and Die Walkure Act 1, both available from Opera Depot. In this recording, the other singers, orchestra and conductor all acquit themselves well.

Scottish Opera’s Trojans -sung in English- was actually performed in ONE evening, with Ann Howard (from Sadler’s Wells/ENO) and John Shaw (from Covent Garden) joining Ronald Dowd in Part One – they can here be heard briefly as the ghosts of Cassandra and Chorebus. It is to be hoped that Opera Depot will swiftly locate that section, as it is likely to be as marvellous as the current offering...for which we are all hugely grateful, Andy!!Janet Baker is -of course- the star here, singing and interpreting Dido with her brilliant musical and dramatic powers; the voice at its peak. That September, she was to deputise for an indisposed Josephine Veasey at Covent Garden, singing in English to the French of everyone else, including Jon Vickers. Happily, the broadcast performance is also available on O/D – it is also splendid...and I was there, sitting in the Slips, an impressionable 18 year-old who had never yet experienced Berlioz!Ronald Dowd as Aeneas is not quite in the class of Vickers but -apart from a strained note in the love duet- is mightily impressive, encompassing both lyrical and dramatic sides of the legendary hero for which Berlioz wrote legendary and quite murderous music!Bernadette Greevy and Joseph Rouleau are excellent, compassionately involved as Anna and Narbal, and the sweet-voiced Hylas of Duncan Robertson will also be enjoyed. Robert Thomas is slightly strained in Iopas’s song – nothing serious; he was a fine, versatile tenor. His roles included Arnold in Rossini's William Tell (for Welsh National Opera - another killer role) so I wonder if he was also Dowd’s understudy.The Scottish Opera forces rise to the occasion –every Trojans is an occasion- and they do the opera proud. Alexander Gibson was a wonderful Berlioz conductor who fully compliments what Colin Davis was doing at the Royal Opera.Five stars without reservation. Is there any point in urging you to add this issue to your basket and buy it without delay? Probably not; devoted Berliozians [is that a word?) will already have done so!And now...I’m going to listen to the whole opera again!

What a shock! What a wonderful surprise! I always thought this production had not been recorded in full, and I'm sure I have read commentators bemoaning the fact that all there remained of this was the studio recording of a few excerpts. But here we have a wonderful recording of what was clearly a brilliant performance and memorable occasion. Don't be put off by it being in mono sound. Yes, the opening with orchestra and chorus is very mono! But as soon as Janet Baker enters - and she is on stage most of the time - you soon forget about the mono. The recording is very clear, and there are none of the usual bubble and squeaks of old mono recordings, neither are there the usual distortions at peaks and high notes. Janet Baker is on magnificent top form, with a brilliant cast with crystal-clear diction.Thank you, Opera Depot!