Dido and Orfeo (after Purcell and Gluck)

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 recognizable from the original.

The music was recorded live during the ballet's world tour.