BRITTEN - Midsummer Night’s Dream
It is a feat of remarkable genius to turn a masterpiece in one medium into a work of similar calibre in another, but that is unquestionably what Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) and Peter Pears (1910-1986) did by transforming Shakespeare’s play into their opera. By pushing the troublesome, even anachronistic, ambience of Athens into the background they were able to raise Oberon into a key figure and indeed the music for the fairies becomes the most recognisable feature of the score, especially as they have treble voices and Oberon is a counter-tenor. This distinguishes their world from that inhabited by the two pairs of lovers on the one hand, depicted with predominantly warm melodies and orchestrations, and the six mechanicals on the other, with its often brusque near-talking style of singing and cryptic accompaniment. This recording was based on an Opera London Production of 1990 and features numerous top British singers from the period.

0946 3 81832 2 8 (2 CDs)
0946 3 81832 5 9 (Digital Download)