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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A magical haunting,
By A Customer
This review is from: Britten - A Midsummer Night's Dream / McNair, Asawa, Lloyd, Bostridge, Ainsley, Summers, Watson, Sir Colin Davis (Audio CD)
This offers the only recording of this haunting opera since Britten's own. Performed by a multi-national cast, the opera was recorded in concert, but you would not suspect as much from the involvement evident from the singers. The casting is generally very even, with honours going to Brian Asawa's eerie Oberon and Sylvia McNair's lovely Tytania. A young Ian Bostridge features as Flute, and the set is worth having for his Thisbe in the bel canto parody that Britten so cunningly puts in place of the mechanic's attempts at amateur dramatics. Not all is rosy, however: Brian Bannatyne Scott offers a reedy Theseus, and Carl Ferguson lacks poetry as Puck, most noticeable as the role is spoken. Colin Davis leads the LSO in a textured, slower than usual reading of the score, but it emerges as cleverly engaging as ever. The Britten recording will always remain first choice, but this latecomer is a welcome addition to the Britten discography.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews) 15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A masterpiece opera and a good, not great, performance,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Britten - A Midsummer Night's Dream / McNair, Asawa, Lloyd, Bostridge, Ainsley, Summers, Watson, Sir Colin Davis (Audio CD)
This is one of the most beautiful operas of the twentieth century. Of course, Britten had a great librettist. Using about fity percent of Shakespeare's text, he managed to keep the dramatic line taut and to preserve the integrity of the characters. This performance was uneven but pleasurable. But an uneven recording of such a great opera is better than a good recording of less fascinating works. Asawa and LLoyd are very good, Mc Nair also although her performance doesn't quite catch fire. (I saw her do Tytania at the Met where it did catch fire. It's oddly engineered; the sound seems quite uneven, making me wonder if the mikes or performers were moving around some of the time. The fairy soloists were a little off-pitch from time to time and underppowered which is a pity since they get some of the best music.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Beautiful Opera, and Quite a Few Beautiful Voices,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Britten - A Midsummer Night's Dream / McNair, Asawa, Lloyd, Bostridge, Ainsley, Summers, Watson, Sir Colin Davis (Audio CD)
Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream is a work of genious even if it is not exactly melodic. It poses beautiful and intellectually stimulating harmonies and parts for pretty much all different voice parts (and I mean that when I say it; with the leads being countertenor, coloratura, and baritone while many other important roles show off the lyric soprano, mezzo-soprano, lyric tenor, and others). I enjoyed every bit of this opera live, and I enjoyed this recording nearly as much. Though the boys choir leaves a small bit to be desired with their intonation, the boys fairy solos are pretty, and create the affect that I believe Britten was looking for. Brian Asawa has a marvelous voice, and is wonderful as Oberon. You don't need help picturing him as an etherial sounding, immortal fairy. Sylvia McNair has a gorgeous colorutra voice, and does a great job in Tytania's difficult aria. I would call it death to nearly anyone but a true coloratura, and she demonstrates that she can do this part with ease. The rest of the singing cast is correctly placed, creating a great cd overall. However, if you're a newcomer to opera, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. It is truely a musicians own opera. I would rate it a 5 star recording. Definitely buy it (besides I couldn't find the one that Britten actually directed... it's out of print I believe.)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not the best,
By rkass - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Britten - A Midsummer Night's Dream / McNair, Asawa, Lloyd, Bostridge, Ainsley, Summers, Watson, Sir Colin Davis (Audio CD)
This is one of my favorite operas, and it's nice to have several versions, but I would not start with this recording. The pace seems very slow to me, and the performance lacks the energy of Hickox's performace and the sheer beauty and magic of Britten's. A somewhat interesting alternative, but I would recommend one of the others as a first choice.
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