Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream - incidental music, Op. 61 & Overture, Op. 21 - LSO Live: LSO0795 - SACD + Blu-ray or download

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…much to enjoy here…pinpoint precision of melody-carrying flutes and violins, the sure footed bass and above all a sense that the composer is being taken seriously. — Gramophone Magazine, April 2017 More…

Release Date: 3rd Feb 2017
Catalogue No: LSO0795
Label: LSO Live
Length: 55 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

3rd February 2017
BBC Music Magazine

April 2017

Orchestral Choice
Diapason d’Or de l’Année

2017

Winner - Musique Symphonique
Presto Recordings of the Year

Winner 2017
The Times Records of the Year

2017

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Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture, Op. 21

Work length12:16

$2.00

$2.50

$2.90

London Symphony Orchestra, Monteverdi Choir
Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Overture (Allegro di molto)

Track length6:22

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

Overture (Tempo primo)

Track length5:54

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream - incidental music, Op. 61

Work length42:50

$11.00

$13.75

$15.95

Ceri-lyn Cissone, Frankie Wakefield, Alexander Knox
Monteverdi Choir, London Symphony Orchestra
Sir John Eliot Gardiner

"Ay Me! For Aught That I Could Ever Read"

Track length1:03

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

No. 1, Scherzo

Track length4:17

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

No. 2, L'istesso tempo

Track length3:32

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

No. 2a, Allegro vivace

Track length2:12

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

No. 3, Lied mit Chor

Track length4:40

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

No. 4, Andante

Track length1:41

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

No. 5, Allegro appassionato

Track length4:19

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

No. 7, Nocturne. Con moto tranquillo

Track length6:11

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

No. 8, Andante

Track length3:18

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

No. 9, Hochzeitmarsch "Wedding March" - No. 12, Allegro vivace come primo

Track length5:12

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

Finale. Allegro di molto

Track length6:25

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

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Recording of the Week, John Eliot Gardiner conducts Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream

3rd February 2017

James listens to John Eliot Gardiner's recording of Mendelssohn's delightful incidental music, with the LSO and Monteverdi Choir.

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

Reviews

April 2017

…much to enjoy here…pinpoint precision of melody-carrying flutes and violins, the sure footed bass and above all a sense that the composer is being taken seriously.

3rd February 2017

it definitely still feels like a full representation of Mendelssohn's sparkling music.
And sparkle it does: there's a real lightness of touch in the Overture, and I was delighted with the way that Gardiner manages to make familiar music sound fresh...I wouldn’t have thought there was anything Gardiner could have done to invigorate that most familiar of tunes, namely the Wedding March, and yet that’s exactly what he does.

26th February 2017

Here, unless you were at the concert from which this recording was taken last year, is Mendelssohn’s Shakespeare music as you’ve never heard it before...Gardiner hears this music through the prism of period instruments and conveys its magic with his outstanding choir and soloists.

Classical Music June 2017

[Gardiner] secures remarkable crisp, lithe playing – some pianissimos are simply breathtaking – and restores a handful of cuts to the familiar performance version. His choral stalwarts are on top form, as are three impressive young actors from the GSMD

Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream - incidental music, Op. 61 & Overture, Op. 21

SACD + Blu-ray

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Recording of the Week, John Eliot Gardiner conducts Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream

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