A Midsummer Night's Dream (Seiji Ozawa recording)

Last updated
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Midsummer Nights Dream Ozawa CD.jpg
Deutsche Grammophon CD, 439 897-2
Studio album of Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream by
Released1994
Studio Symphony Hall, Boston
Genre Classical
Length55:38
LanguageEnglish
Label Deutsche Grammophon
Producer Christian Gansch

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 55-minute studio album containing the overture and almost all of the incidental music that Felix Mendelssohn wrote to accompany William Shakespeare's play of the same name. It is performed by Kathleen Battle, Frederica von Stade, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Seiji Ozawa, with interlinking passages of verse spoken by Judi Dench. It was released in 1994. [1]

Contents

Background

The album includes all of Mendelssohn's incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream except his score's No. 6, a melodrama. The vocal numbers are sung in Shakespeare's English rather than in the German translation by August Wilhelm Schlegel and Dorothea Tieck that Mendelssohn set, necessitating a few small deviations from Mendelssohn's original score. [1] [2]

The album is the second of two recordings of the work in which Frederica von Stade took part. In the first, released by RCA Victor Red Seal on LP in 1977 and on CD in 1985, she performed a shorter, reordered German-language version of the score with Judith Blegen and the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Eugene Ormandy. [2] For details, see A Midsummer Night's Dream (Eugene Ormandy recording).

Recording

The album was digitally recorded in October 1992 in Symphony Hall, Boston. [1]

Cover art

The cover of the album features a painting by Friedrich Hechelmann  [ de ]. [1]

Critical reception

Felix Mendelssohn painted by Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow in 1834 Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy - Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow 1834.jpg
Felix Mendelssohn painted by Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow in 1834
Scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream: Titania and Bottom by Edwin Landseer (1848) Edwin Landseer - Scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Titania and Bottom - Google Art Project.jpg
Scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream: Titania and Bottom by Edwin Landseer (1848)

Alan Sanders reviewed the album in Gramophone in October 1994, comparing it with what he considered to be the best recording of the work to have appeared thitherto, a Teldec disc conducted by Kurt Masur. [3] Kathleen Battle, Frederica von Stade and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus had all sung "with great distinction", he wrote. And the playing of the Boston Symphony Orchestra was "of the highest quality" and "beautifully brought off" from the first bar of the album to the last. But the brightest star in the CD's constellation of talents was Seiji Ozawa. Conducting with precision, pointedness and more fantasy than Masur had supplied, he struck "an ideal balance between conveying the underlying strength of Mendelssohn's writing and bringing out the music's wide-eyed freshness, its delicacy and its gentle, slightly teasing sense of humour". His reading of the Overture, for example, was powerful and cogent, but he was alert to every detail of the score and it seemed as though he was conducting with a smile. The only charge that could be laid against him was that his pace in the Scherzo was slightly slower than some listeners might prefer. Taken as a whole, the album had one minor weakness and one decisive advantage. Its flaw was that it fell just short of presenting Mendelssohn's score in its entirety: a single number, an allegro, was omitted. The lacuna amounted to merely a few minutes of "brief and sometimes repetitive orchestral comments", but the missing bars were engaging and their absence was regrettable. But this irritating solecism was not grave enough to outweigh the asset that the album enjoyed in its narrator, Judi Dench. Where Masur's disc had passages of interpolated dialogue in German, Ozawa's had excerpts from Shakespeare's text spoken by Dench in English. Her first appearance (amidst the closing notes of the Scherzo) was somewhat jolting, but the "great character and wit" of her subsequent contributions were what "[lifted] the issue above all other competition". The album was an "[almost] ideal representation of Mendelssohn's music for Shakespeare's play", and it came with the bonus of audio quality that was first class. [4]

Richard Freed reviewed the album in Stereo Review in September 1995, following his British predecessor in comparing it with Kurt Masur's rival version. Frederica von Stade, he wrote, was "every bit as persuasive" as Seiji Ozawa's Second Fairy as she had been when recording A Midsummer Night's Dream for Eugene Ormandy. And Kathleen Battle, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Boston Symphony Orchestra sang and played as well as they knew how to. It was plain, too, that for Seiji Ozawa, making his album had been a labour of love – his disc was a beautiful one, and Masur's could not equal its charm. It was unfortunate that like Masur, Ozawa had spoiled Mendelssohn's music by interpolating a spoken narration. That the intrusive text was delivered in English rather than in German scarcely made it less of an annoyance. Judi Dench was an actress of distinction, but her contributions were unnecessarily lengthy, and Freed was alienated by "[her] intensity, [her] jarring entrances and by her pauses after each line of verse, irrespective of expressive sense". If Mendelssohn's music was not heard in the context of a complete performance of Shakespeare's play, it was best enjoyed with either a bare minimum of narration or with none. Deutsche Grammophon had recorded the album's musical items "handsomely", but Dench sometimes sounded as though she was speaking "from the depths of a cistern". [5]

CD track listing

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847)

A Midsummer Night's Dream , with a text taken from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (1564–1616) and narration adapted from the play by Evans Mirageas and Seiji Ozawa

Overture, Op. 21 (1826)

Incidental Music, Op. 61 (1843)

Personnel

Dame Judi Dench, 2007 Judi Dench at the BAFTAs 2007.jpg
Dame Judi Dench, 2007

Performers

Other

Release history

Deutsche Grammophon released the album on CD (catalogue number 439 897-2) in 1994, with a 36-page insert booklet including photographs of Battle, von Stade, Dench and Ozawa, texts in English, French and German and notes by John Warrack, Siegmar Keil, Susanna Pasticci and Manfred Kelkel in English, German, Italian and French respectively, [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seiji Ozawa</span> Japanese conductor (1935–2024)

Seiji Ozawa was a Japanese conductor known internationally for his work as music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and especially the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), where he served from 1973 for 29 years. After conducting the Vienna New Year's Concert in 2002, he was director of the Vienna State Opera until 2010. In Japan, he founded the Saito Kinen Orchestra in 1984, their festival in 1992, and the Tokyo Opera Nomori in 2005.

The Tanglewood Festival Chorus, directed by James Burton, is a chorus which performs with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops in major choral works. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus (TFC) was organized in the spring of 1970, when founding conductor John Oliver became director of vocal and choral activities at the Tanglewood Music Center, the summer home of the BSO. Originally formed for performances at the BSO's summer home at the behest of the BSO's conductor designate Seiji Ozawa, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus is the official chorus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops Orchestra year-round, performing in Boston, New York and Tanglewood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederica von Stade</span> American mezzo-soprano

Frederica von Stade is a semi-retired American classical singer. Best known for her work in opera, she was also a recitalist and concert artist, and she recorded more than a hundred albums and videos. She is especially associated with operas by Mozart and Rossini, and also with music by French and American composers, most notably Jake Heggie. A Chevalier of France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, twice the winner of a Grand Prix du Disque and nominated nine times for a Grammy award, she is widely regarded as the pre-eminent lyric mezzo-soprano of her generation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 1 (Mendelssohn)</span>

Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25, was written in 1830–31, around the same time as his fourth symphony, and premiered in Munich on 17 October 1831. This concerto was composed in Rome during a travel in Italy after the composer met the pianist Delphine von Schauroth in Munich. The concerto was dedicated to her. Mendelssohn attended one party after another in Munich in October 1831, the month of the premiere, but he also played chamber music and taught double counterpoint. He performed the piece himself at the premiere, which also included performances of his Symphony No. 1 and the Overture from Midsummer Night's Dream. He had already written a piano concerto in A minor with string accompaniment (1822) and two concertos with two pianos (1823–24).

<i>Scheherazade</i> (Rimsky-Korsakov) Symphonic poem by Rimsky-Korsakov

Scheherazade, also commonly Sheherazade, Op. 35, is a symphonic suite composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888 and based on One Thousand and One Nights.

On two occasions, Felix Mendelssohn composed music for William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. First in 1826, near the start of his career, he wrote a concert overture. Later, in 1842, five years before his death, he wrote incidental music for a production of the play, into which he incorporated the existing overture. The incidental music includes the famous "Wedding March".

Judith Blegen is an American soprano, particularly associated with light lyric roles of the French, Italian and German repertories.

<i>A Midsummer Nights Dream</i> (1968 film) 1968 film by Peter Hall

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1968 British film of William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Peter Hall.

<i>The Tempest</i> (Sullivan) Suite of incidental music for Shakespeares play composed by Arthur Sullivan

The Tempest incidental music, Op. 1, is a set of movements for Shakespeare's play composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1861 and expanded in 1862. This was Sullivan's first major composition, and its success quickly brought him to the attention of the musical establishment in England.

<i>Die erste Walpurgisnacht</i> 1843 poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Die erste Walpurgisnacht is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe telling of efforts by Druids in the Harz Mountains to practice their pagan rituals in the face of new and dominating Christian forces.

The University City Symphony Orchestra is a non-profit community orchestra located in the St. Louis area. This is a partial listing of its programs during its 40+ year existence:

The Eighth Symphony by the German composer Hans Werner Henze was composed in 1992–93.

<i>Hooked on Classics</i> 1981 studio album by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Hooked on Classics is a classical crossover album recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Louis Clark, released in 1981 by K-tel and distributed by RCA Records, part of the Hooked on Classics series. It was produced by Jeff Jarratt and Don Reedman.

<i>Shéhérazade</i> (Frederica von Stade recording) 1981 studio album by Frederica von Stade

Shéhérazade is a 40-minute studio album of art songs by Maurice Ravel performed by Frederica von Stade. In the Chansons madécasses, she is accompanied by the flautist Doriot Anthony Dwyer, the cellist Jules Eskin and the pianist Martin Katz. In two of the Cinq mélodies populaires grecques, the Deux mélodies hébraïques and Shéhérazade itself, she is accompanied by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Seiji Ozawa. The album was released in 1981.

<i>Nuits dété & La damoiselle élue</i> 1984 studio album by Frederica von Stade

Nuits d'été & La damoiselle élue is a 51-minute studio album of songs by Hector Berlioz and a cantata by Claude Debussy performed by Frederica von Stade, Susanne Mentzer, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Seiji Ozawa. It was released in 1984.

<i>A Midsummer Nights Dream</i> (Eugene Ormandy recording) 1977 studio album by Eugene Ormandy

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 51-minute studio album containing the overture and most of the incidental music that Felix Mendelssohn wrote to accompany William Shakespeare's play of the same name. It is performed by Judith Blegen, Frederica von Stade, the Women's Voices of the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Eugene Ormandy. It was released in 1977.

<i>Dvořák in Prague: A Celebration</i> 1993 Czech TV series or program

Dvořák in Prague: A Celebration was an 89-minute televised concert presented in Prague's Smetana Hall on 16 December 1993, in which thirteen pieces of music by Antonin Dvořák were performed by the pianist Rudolf Firkušný, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the violinist Itzhak Perlman, the mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, the Prague Philharmonic Chorus and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Seiji Ozawa. It was produced by Sony Classical Film and Video, Czech Television and Germany's Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen in association with Pragokoncert, the Netherlands' Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep and the United States' Public Service Broadcasting and MJI Broadcasting, and was released on Laserdisc, VHS video cassette, CD and audio cassette by Sony Classical Records and on DVD by Kultur Video.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Mendelssohn, Felix: A Midsummer Night's Dream, cond. Seiji Ozawa, Deutsche Grammophon CD, 439 897-2, 1994
  2. 1 2 Mendelssohn, Felix: A Midsummer Night's Dream, cond. Eugene Ormandy, RCA Victor Red Seal CD, RD 82084, 1985
  3. Mendelssohn, Felix: A Midsummer Night's Dream, cond. Kurt Masur, Teldec CD, 2292-46323-2
  4. Sanders, Alan: Gramophone . October 1994, p. 112
  5. Freed, Richard: Stereo Review , September 1995, pp. 110–112