The Royal Albert Hall is an ideal venue for Berlioz’ epic retelling of Dido & Aeneas, with its off stage bands and extrovert choruses. But the lack of a theatrical setting also allows us to concentrate more closely on the characters. Anna Caterina Antonacci not only understands the acute dichotomy which ultimately destroys Troy but also the human tragedy of a woman in love who is not believed. Her Cassandra carried the whole of the first two acts with a touching sense of vulnerability as well as increasing nobility in the face of death. Her Chorebus, Fabio Capitanucci may have an heroic baritone but the quality of his French pronunciation left much to be desired.

This proved to be a niggle across the whole evening. With no surtitles and a libretto on one’s lap with both texts immediately available, it was all too obvious when the sung French was being mangled.

Happily this seemed to improve when we moved to Carthage, with the lead pair, Eva-Maria Westbroek and Bryan Hymel not only in fine voice but able to ride the orchestra with ease and beauty. Act 4 was particularly impressive, with the orchestra electric during the Royal Hunt and Storm, though it was a tribute to Antonio Pappano’s overarching control that this flowed seamlessly into the septet and love duet which conclude act four.

In a large cast there were some other outstanding performances. Brindley Sherratt’s Narbal was both incisive and commanding, while Ji-Min Park brought us lyrical beauty with Iopas’ aria in.

The chorus, singing without scores, were bold of voice but too often the text got lost. No such problem with the orchestra where solo voices sang with ease and the off-stage bands were thrilling.

There are times when concert performances can bring clear benefits and this was one of them. BH