Latest releases reviewed

BERLIOZ : LES TROYENS
Soloists: Susan Graham, Anna Caterina Antonacci, etc. Choeur du Theatre du Chatalet. Monteverdi Choir. Conductor: Sir John Elliot Gardiner
Opus Arte
*****

Les Troyens deals with the fall of Troy and the subsequent love affair between Aeneas and Dido, Queen of Carthage. It is an epic work lasting well over four hours, and its scale often requires cuts. This production does it full justice, performing the work complete and with the composer's original intended instrumentation. Among a generally excellent cast, Anna Caterina Antonacci (as the tormented Cassandra) and Susan Graham (as a regal Dido) are quite magnificent. The staging, plain and suggestive rather than realistic, is cleverly conceived and fully supports the drama. With full surround sound, these discs are a visual and aural feast for anyone wanting to get to know this great romantic epic. www.opusarte.com - COLMAN MORRISSEY

KATIE MELUA
Concert Under the Sea
Dramatico
*

Now this is strange; Jan Hauge, a boogie-woogie, piano-playing Norwegian employee of Statoil, was obsessed with staging a concert at the base of the Troll-A gas rig at the bottom of the North Sea. And as the 10th anniversary of the biggest man-made structure ever moved on Earth was coming up, well then, why not have someone as well known and banal as Katie Melua cut the ribbon 303 metres under water? This documentary charts the exercise from start to end in precise detail. It's tedious, boring and so inane that Melua's concert (wherein, much to his obvious delight, Hauge adds piano licks to My Aphrodisiac Is You) is actually something of a high point. Did I really write that? Extras include promo videos (for Shy Boy and It's Only Pain), an interview with Melua and live footage.  - TONY CLAYTON-LEA