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Track Listings
| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Over hill, over dale (Fairies/Puck) | |||
| 2. Oberon is passing fell and wrath (Fairies/Oberon/Tytania) | |||
| 3. Well, go thy way (Oberon/Puck) | |||
| 4. How now my love? (Lysander/Hermia) | |||
| 5. Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull (Oberon/Demetrius/Helena) | |||
| 6. Welcome wanderer! ... I know a bank (Oberon) | |||
See all 20 tracks on this disc
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| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. Flower of this purple dye (Oberon/Puck/Lysander/Helena/Demetrius/Hermia) | |||
| 2. Puppet? Why, so? Ay, that way goes the game (Hermia/Helena/Lysander/Demetrius) | |||
| 3. This is thy negligence (Oberon/Puck) | |||
| 4. Up and down, up and down (Puck/Lysander/Demetrius/Helena/Hermia) | |||
| 5. On the ground, sleep sound (Fairies) | |||
| 6. My gentle Robin, see'st thou this sweet sight? (Oberon/Tytania/Puck) | |||
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See all 21 tracks on this disc
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| Disc: 3 | |||
| 1. Libretto | |||
| 2. Synopsis | |||
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
By the time this heart warming performance, captured so well in this recording, comes to an end with Puck's final words, and the cheeky fanfare bang from brass and percussion, you are guaranteed to be left with a smile on your face. This music Is tough to perform, from technical perspective, but it has to come over with a lightness and fizz and heartfelt emotion that requires virtuoso musicianship from all cast and orchestra and sharp and visionary understanding by the conductor. They all do so convincingly in this recording and really it is a must have whether you are a fan of Britten or not.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
The Best of Dreams
4 Jan 2011
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This really is the best recording of the Britten opera, A Midsummer's Night Dream.
The role of Puck in Britten's Opera A Midsummer's Night Dream was intended by Britten and Peter Pears (who co-wrote the libretto from Shakespeare) to be an adolescent boy. Britten wrote, "He is quite different from anyone else in the play. He seems to me to be absolutely amoral and yet innocent." Britten added, "I got the idea in Stockholm, where I saw some Swedish child-acrobats with extraordinary agility and powers of mimicry, and suddenly realized we could do Puck that way." In the first production, Puck was played by the fifteen-year-old son of the great dancer and choreographer Leonid Massine. At twenty-four, Dexter Fletcher was still boyish in the speaking, rather than singing, and "tumbling" role [check his other roles in film and TV at IMdb]. The rest of the cast is also nigh perfect, and the late Richard Hickox has the Britten touch, right down to the proper casting of ALL the roles. Not only is fairy Cobweb, and the rest of the fairy quartet, sung by trebles, even the entire fairy chorus, as Britten wished, are trebles, the Trinity Boys Choir here. This makes a great difference in the vocal ensemble and textures. The libretto is in pdf format on the third CD in English [as sung], German and French , along with the notes and cast. However, the cast leaves out the vocal ranges, which I have appended.
Oberon, King of the Fairies: James Bowman (Countertenor)
Tytania, Queen of the Fairies: Lillian Watson (Soprano)
Puck: Dexter Fletcher (Spoken Vocals)
Theseus, Duke of Athens: Norman Bailey (Baritone)
Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus: Penelope Walker (Mezzo Soprano)
Lysander, in love with Hermia: John Graham-Hall (Tenor)
Demetrius, in love with Hermia: Henry Herford (Baritone)
Hermia, in love with Lysander: Della Jones (Mezzo Soprano)
Helena, in love with Demetrius: Jill Gomez (Soprano)
Bottom, a weaver: Donald Maxwell (Baritone)
Quince, a carpenter: Roger Bryson (Baritone)
Flute, a bellows mender: Adrian Thompson (Tenor)
Snug, a joiner: Andrew Gallacher (Bass)
Snout, a tinker: Robert Horn (Tenor)
Starveling, a tailor: Richard Suart (Bass)
Cobweb, a fairy: Simon Hart (Treble)
Peachblossom, a fairy: Gregory Pierre (Treble)
Mustardseed, a fairy: Andrew Mead (Treble)
Moth, a fairy: Nicholas Watson (Treble)
Conductor: Richard Hickox
Orchestra/Ensemble: City of London Sinfonia, Trinity Boys Choir
Period: 20th Century, written 1960; England
Recording: 11/1990, EMI Abbey Road Studio no 1, London, England, 154 Minutes 26 Secs.
Language: English
Other Britten operas may be more important, like Peter Grimes, or A Turn Of The Screw, but A Midsummer's Night Dream is his most tuneful, most delightful, and most engaging opera. If you are new to Britten, this is the opera to get, and this performance is the best of all possible Dreams.
The role of Puck in Britten's Opera A Midsummer's Night Dream was intended by Britten and Peter Pears (who co-wrote the libretto from Shakespeare) to be an adolescent boy. Britten wrote, "He is quite different from anyone else in the play. He seems to me to be absolutely amoral and yet innocent." Britten added, "I got the idea in Stockholm, where I saw some Swedish child-acrobats with extraordinary agility and powers of mimicry, and suddenly realized we could do Puck that way." In the first production, Puck was played by the fifteen-year-old son of the great dancer and choreographer Leonid Massine. At twenty-four, Dexter Fletcher was still boyish in the speaking, rather than singing, and "tumbling" role [check his other roles in film and TV at IMdb]. The rest of the cast is also nigh perfect, and the late Richard Hickox has the Britten touch, right down to the proper casting of ALL the roles. Not only is fairy Cobweb, and the rest of the fairy quartet, sung by trebles, even the entire fairy chorus, as Britten wished, are trebles, the Trinity Boys Choir here. This makes a great difference in the vocal ensemble and textures. The libretto is in pdf format on the third CD in English [as sung], German and French , along with the notes and cast. However, the cast leaves out the vocal ranges, which I have appended.
Oberon, King of the Fairies: James Bowman (Countertenor)
Tytania, Queen of the Fairies: Lillian Watson (Soprano)
Puck: Dexter Fletcher (Spoken Vocals)
Theseus, Duke of Athens: Norman Bailey (Baritone)
Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus: Penelope Walker (Mezzo Soprano)
Lysander, in love with Hermia: John Graham-Hall (Tenor)
Demetrius, in love with Hermia: Henry Herford (Baritone)
Hermia, in love with Lysander: Della Jones (Mezzo Soprano)
Helena, in love with Demetrius: Jill Gomez (Soprano)
Bottom, a weaver: Donald Maxwell (Baritone)
Quince, a carpenter: Roger Bryson (Baritone)
Flute, a bellows mender: Adrian Thompson (Tenor)
Snug, a joiner: Andrew Gallacher (Bass)
Snout, a tinker: Robert Horn (Tenor)
Starveling, a tailor: Richard Suart (Bass)
Cobweb, a fairy: Simon Hart (Treble)
Peachblossom, a fairy: Gregory Pierre (Treble)
Mustardseed, a fairy: Andrew Mead (Treble)
Moth, a fairy: Nicholas Watson (Treble)
Conductor: Richard Hickox
Orchestra/Ensemble: City of London Sinfonia, Trinity Boys Choir
Period: 20th Century, written 1960; England
Recording: 11/1990, EMI Abbey Road Studio no 1, London, England, 154 Minutes 26 Secs.
Language: English
Other Britten operas may be more important, like Peter Grimes, or A Turn Of The Screw, but A Midsummer's Night Dream is his most tuneful, most delightful, and most engaging opera. If you are new to Britten, this is the opera to get, and this performance is the best of all possible Dreams.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Very fine, most notable for dramatic excitement
8 May 2011
Format:Audio CD
Note: This is a repost of my original review. I haven't heard EMI's new issue, but the one that first came out on Virgin had quite good sound already, so prospective buyers might want to choose on the basis of price.
This 1993 studio recording derives from a stage production, and it shows. The singers are dramatically more convincing than even the excellent cast assembled for the competing versions under Colin Davis (pilips) and the composer (Decca). The urgent, exciting pacing is much more gripping than Davis's carefully considered, measured account. All three condcutors are masterful at the technical level, and anyone who loves Midsummer Night's Dream could be well satisfied with any of the available sets.
I own all three, and if I had to keep only one, it would be the Hickox. Britten's version feels as if the music hadn't yet found its dramatic footing -- I don't sense that these voices stand for real Shakespearean characters. Colin Davis's cast seems a bit studio bound, and the two leads, Sylvia McNair's Tytania and Brian Azawa's Oberon, are too concerned with vocal beauty to argue, fret, and scheme convincingly (Azawa in particular is too feminine-sounding, and Oberon must manage to be every inch a proud king even though he sings in a high register). James Bowman was a famous Oberon on stage, and we are lucky that the microphones caught his portrayal, even though he was two decades past his debut. The roughness in his boice actually addds to his authority. In addition, the four lovers sound genuinely infauated and expaserateed by turns. Finally, the spoken part of PUck is done in straightforward fashion, which I prefer to Davis's adolescent Cockney.
Amazon reviewers aren't paying much attention to Britten's Shakespeare opera, but it is one of his greatest accomplishments and grows in stature the more you listen to it.
This 1993 studio recording derives from a stage production, and it shows. The singers are dramatically more convincing than even the excellent cast assembled for the competing versions under Colin Davis (pilips) and the composer (Decca). The urgent, exciting pacing is much more gripping than Davis's carefully considered, measured account. All three condcutors are masterful at the technical level, and anyone who loves Midsummer Night's Dream could be well satisfied with any of the available sets.
I own all three, and if I had to keep only one, it would be the Hickox. Britten's version feels as if the music hadn't yet found its dramatic footing -- I don't sense that these voices stand for real Shakespearean characters. Colin Davis's cast seems a bit studio bound, and the two leads, Sylvia McNair's Tytania and Brian Azawa's Oberon, are too concerned with vocal beauty to argue, fret, and scheme convincingly (Azawa in particular is too feminine-sounding, and Oberon must manage to be every inch a proud king even though he sings in a high register). James Bowman was a famous Oberon on stage, and we are lucky that the microphones caught his portrayal, even though he was two decades past his debut. The roughness in his boice actually addds to his authority. In addition, the four lovers sound genuinely infauated and expaserateed by turns. Finally, the spoken part of PUck is done in straightforward fashion, which I prefer to Davis's adolescent Cockney.
Amazon reviewers aren't paying much attention to Britten's Shakespeare opera, but it is one of his greatest accomplishments and grows in stature the more you listen to it.
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