Britten - A Midsummer Night's Dream / Bowman, Watson, Gomez, D. Jones, Graham Hall, Herford, Maxwell; Hickox

1. A Midsummer Night's Dream, opera, Op. 64
   Composed by Benjamin Britten
   Performed by The City of London Sinfonia
   with Nicholas Watson, Henry Herford, Jill Gomez, Andrew Gallacher, Dexter Fletcher, Della Jones, John Graham-Hill, Simon Hart, Penelope Walker, Norman Bailey, Gregory Pierre, Adrian Thompson, Richard Suart, Andrew [singer] Mead, Lillian Watson, James Bowman, Roger Bryson, Donald Maxwell, Robert Horn
   Conducted by David Squibb, Richard Hickox
   
   

Britten - A Midsummer Night's Dream / Bowman, Watson, Gomez, D. Jones, Graham Hall, Herford, Maxwell; Hickox,Benjamin Britten,City of London Sinfonia,Richard Hickox,Norman Bailey,James Bowman,Lillian Watson,Dexter Fletcher,Roger Bryson,Adrian Thompson,Penelope Walker,Andrew Gallacher,John Graham Hall,Robert Horn,Henry Herford,Richard Stuart,Della Jones,Trinity Boys Choir,Jill Gomez,Virgin Records,British 20th/21st Century Opera,Classical,Classical Composers,Classical Music,Opera,Opera / Operetta / Oratorio

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Average customer rating: A gorgeous opera

Britten - A Midsummer Night's Dream / Bowman, Watson, Gomez, D. Jones, Graham Hall, Herford, Maxwell; Hickox Benjamin Britten , City of London Sinfonia , Richard Hickox , Norman Bailey , James Bowman , Lillian Watson , Dexter Fletcher , Roger Bryson , Adrian Thompson , Penelope Walker , Andrew Gallacher , John Graham Hall , Robert Horn , Henry Herford , Richard Stuart , Della Jones , Trinity Boys Choir , and Jill Gomez Manufacturer: Virgin Records Us ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Britten | Britten, Sir Benjamin | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music English | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music ASIN: B000002SRR Release Date: 1993-08-17

Tracks:

1. Introduction: The Wood, Deepening Twilight/Over Hill, Over Dale
2. Oberon Is Passing Fell And Wrath
3. Well, Go Thy Way
4. How Now My Love?
5. Be It On Lion, Bear, Or Wolf, Or Bull
6. Welcome Wanderer!... I Know A Bank
7. Is All Our Company Here?
8. Fair Love, You Faint With Wand'ring In The Wood
9. Through The Forest Have I Gone
10. Stay, Though Thou Kill Me, Sweet Demetrius
11. Come, Now A Roundel And A Fairy Song
12. You Spotted Snakes With Double Tongue
13. What Thou Seest When Thou Dost Wake
14. Introduction: The Wood
15. Are We All Met?
16. I See Their Knavery
17. Be Kind And Courteous To This Gentleman
18. Hail, Mortal, Hail!
19. I Have A Reas'nable Good Ear In Music
20. How Now, Mad Spirit?

Tracks:

1. Flower Of This Purple Dye
2. Puppet? Why, So?
3. This Is Thy Negligence
4. Up And Down, Up And Down
5. On The Ground, Sleep Sound
6. Introduction: The Wood, Early Next Morning/My Gentle Robin, See'st Thou This Sweet Sight?
7. Helena! Hermia! Demetrius! Lysander!
8. When My Cue Comes, Call Me
9. Have You Sent To Bottom's House?
10. Now, Fair Hippolyta
11. If We Offend, It Is With Our Good Will
12. Gentles, Perchance You Wonder At This Show
13. In This Same Interlude It Doth Befall
14. O Grim-Look'd Night, O Night With Hue So Black
15. O Wall, Full Often Hast Thou Heard My Moans
16. You Ladies, You Whose Gentle Hearts Do Fear
17. This Lanthorn Doth The Horned Moon Present
18. Sweet Moon, I Thank Thee For Thy Sunny Beams
19. Asleep, My Love?
20. Come, Your Bergomask
21. Now The Hungry Lion Roars

Customer Reviews:

A gorgeous opera.......2007-06-15

I seem to love Balanchine's ballet and Britten's opera of Midsummer's Night's Dream more than the play itself. I bought this C.D. over a decade ago as part of the works studied in a music history class. The instructor chose this opera b/c the voice students were performing it that semester (and countertenor David Daniels, before he hit the big time, was Oberon).

I love the glissandos of the strings that act almost as a "leitmotif," indicating the ethereal world of the fairies. Britten uses a nice balance of tonality and atonality that suits Shakespeare's dreamscape. One of my favorite parts in this opera is the quartet of the lovers, "And I have loved Lysander like a Jewel, my own and not my own..." The voices overlap as each lover stakes his or her claim on the beloved.

Jill Gomez' voice is intoxicatingly gorgeous and has a similar tone quality to Kiri Te Kanawa's lush soprano. She sings Helena and is a standout in an already outstanding production.

Unfortunately, my two Midsummer Night's Dream C.D.s have acquired a fair number of scratches over the last ten years, and some sound systems are less forgiving than others. (One of these days I'll break down and buy something to treat all my C.D.s that are scratched.)

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