Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream - Overture & Incidental Music
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FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream - Overture & Incidental Music
Ceri-lyn Cissone (Hermia/Fairy/Titania); Alexander Knox (Lysander/Puck) / Monteverdi Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
[ LSO Live SACD + BLU-RAY AUDIO / 2 CD/Blu-ray Disc ]
Release Date: Wednesday 1 March 2017
This item is currently out of stock. It may take 6 or more weeks to obtain from when you place your order as this is a specialist product.
SACD & BLU-RAY AUDIO
Continuing his award-winning cycle of works by Felix Mendelssohn, Sir John Eliot Gardiner leads the LSO, his Monteverdi Choir and three talented young actors from the Guildhall in a landmark performance of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', which was performed as part of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. To mark the celebrations, Gardiner produced a special version of the work featuring some cuts to the original movements that, in his words, "remove all of the music relating to the Mechanicals and thus focus on the world of the fairies and the human lovers". Mendelssohn, who adored Shakespeare's writings, composed his concert overture based on 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in 1827 aged 17, after having read a German translation of the play. The overture was immediately acclaimed as a masterpiece and quickly became a popular favourite throughout Europe. Years later in 1843 he was asked by the King of Prussia to provide a score for an entire production: 14 short works based on themes and moods from the original overture, with a broadly romantic sound although classical in style and structure.
The Pure Audio Blu-ray disc includes bonus footage of the concert performance of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and Mendelssohn's Symphony No 1, alongside high resolution master audio.
SACD Hybrid + Pure Audio Blu-ray | 2 disc jewel case with clear tray
2.0 stereo | multi-channel 5.1
Notes in En, Fr, Ge
"Most importantly, the orchestra sound great, and that's the real reason people will pick this up, the acting being only a nice bonus. The Overture sounds marvellous, the vibratoless strings dancing over the fairy music as though barely touching it. The four chords sound repeatedly magical, the big tutti passages sound urbane and busy, and there is even a lovely glissando to accentuate Bottom's braying." MusicWeb Feb 2017
Tracks:
1. Overture
2. Incidental music: Narration - "Ay me! For aught that I could ever read"
3. No 1 Scherzo
4. No 2 L'istesso tempo
5. No 2a Allegro vivace
6. No 3 Lied mit Chor
7. No 4 Andante
8. No 5 Allegro appassionato
9. No 7 Nocturne (Con moto tranquillo)
10. No 8 Andante
11. No 9 Hochzeitmarsch ("Wedding March") & No 12 Allegro vivace come primo
12. Finale (Allegro di molto)
