Mendelssohn Midsummer Night's Dream

[Craig Wallace]

Can anyone please advise best recordings, musically, of the above and not
just the overture?
I have the Fricsay excerpts for reference.
Cheers
Craig W

[rkha...@adnc.com]

In article <7um86u$se2$1...@toto.tig.com.au>,

"Craig Wallace" <crai...@ihug.com.au> wrote:
> Can anyone please advise best recordings, musically, of the above and
not
> just the overture?
> I have the Fricsay excerpts for reference.

You started with a good one. Maag's LSO recording (on a Gold disc
reissue with 8 excerpts, not the snippets on Decca Classic Sound) is
also a good one, but very stingy on numbers. Kubelik's on DG is superb
(using the German edition, just like Fricsay's).
The only 'complete' recording I know (with all the interludes) is
Previn's LSO, which is also good, but just a notch below the above,
in my opinion.

RK

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

[Neil]

On Thu, 21 Oct 1999 15:27:58 +1000, "Craig Wallace" <crai...@ihug.com.au>
wrote:

>Can anyone please advise best recordings, musically, of the above and not
>just the overture?

Klemperer on EMI - newly remastered. Always love this performance: its got
warmth, humanity, gaiety and backbone, and doesn't slip in the sentimental.
Soloists are great (baker and harper) and orchestra plays well. Recording seems
good though my copy is LP.

Neil

[Simon Roberts]

Craig Wallace (crai...@ihug.com.au) wrote:
: Can anyone please advise best recordings, musically, of the above and not
: just the overture?

: I have the Fricsay excerpts for reference.

Well, that's nothing to be sneezed at. I also like Klemperer, Szell
(only 6 movements, no singing), Harnoncourt and, if you care for HIP,
Brueggen and Herreweghe.

Simon

[Tony Movshon]

Maag on Decca and Masur on Philips are both excellent choices, my
favorites along with Klemperer. There is also a live Klemperer
BavarianRSO performance on Originals from right at the end of is life
that is very much worth a listen. On the other hand, I find Szell
rather stuff and charmless in this music, and Harnoncourt surprisingly
lumpy and ungraceful.

Tony Movshon mov...@nyu.edu
Center for Neural Science New York University

[Tony Movshon]

to...@cns.nyu.edu (Tony Movshon) writes:
> that is very much worth a listen. On the other hand, I find Szell
> rather stuff and charmless in this music, and Harnoncourt surprisingly

Oik. How about "stiff and charmless".

[Edward A. Cowan]

Craig Wallace <crai...@ihug.com.au> wrote:

> Can anyone please advise best recordings, musically, of the above and not
> just the overture?
> I have the Fricsay excerpts for reference.

> Cheers
> Craig W

Stereo: LSO/Maag on Decca
Historical: Philadelphia/Toscanini on BMG/RCA (if you can find it)

-- E.A.C.

[paulgo...@my-deja.com]

In article <mRDP3.9$Jc3....@typhoon.nyu.edu>,

to...@cns.nyu.edu (Tony Movshon) wrote:
>
> to...@cns.nyu.edu (Tony Movshon) writes:
> > that is very much worth a listen. On the other hand, I find Szell
> > rather stuff and charmless in this music, and Harnoncourt
surprisingly
>
> Oik. How about "stiff and charmless".

Oh, I thought you meant "chinless."

Paul Goldstein (who prefers Maag too)

[Martin J Haller]

On Thu, 21 Oct 1999 rkha...@adnc.com wrote:

> In article <7um86u$se2$1...@toto.tig.com.au>,

> "Craig Wallace" <crai...@ihug.com.au> wrote:
> > Can anyone please advise best recordings, musically, of the above and
> not
> > just the overture?
> > I have the Fricsay excerpts for reference.
>

> You started with a good one. Maag's LSO recording (on a Gold disc
> reissue with 8 excerpts, not the snippets on Decca Classic Sound) is
> also a good one, but very stingy on numbers. Kubelik's on DG is superb
> (using the German edition, just like Fricsay's).
> The only 'complete' recording I know (with all the interludes) is
> Previn's LSO, which is also good, but just a notch below the above,
> in my opinion.
>
> RK
>
>

> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.
>
>

Second the recommendation for Kubelik, Szell's few excerpts either with
Cleveland on Sony or the Concertgebouw on Phillips are good and can be had
rather cheaply. I also recommend Toscanini/Philadelphia on BMG if you
don't mind listening to the mess that RCA made of the recordings and
remasterings.

Martin J. Haller (mjha...@acsu.buffalo.edu)
"As you gain experience, you'll realize that all logical questions are
considered insubordination." - Dilbert

[Bob Lombard]

>Stuffy and charmless would probably do too. (Szell's always charmless, of
>course.)
>
>Simon

By choice, of course. Charms on his wrist would be a distraction to the
players.

bl

[Simon Roberts]

Tony Movshon (to...@cns.nyu.edu) wrote:

: to...@cns.nyu.edu (Tony Movshon) writes:
: > that is very much worth a listen. On the other hand, I find Szell
: > rather stuff and charmless in this music, and Harnoncourt surprisingly

: Oik. How about "stiff and charmless".

Stuffy and charmless would probably do too. (Szell's always charmless, of
course.)

Simon

[Praetorius]

Simon Roberts wrote

>Tony Movshon wrote:
>
>: > that is very much worth a listen. On the other hand, I find Szell
>: > rather stuff and charmless in this music, and Harnoncourt surprisingly
>

>:[snip]

>
>Stuffy and charmless would probably do too.
>(Szell's always charmless, of course.)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Even the on his Columbia Kodaly Hary Janos Suite?
[Sony "Essential Classics" SBK 48162 - coupled with
excellent Prokofiev Lieutenant Kije Suite and good
Mussorgsky-Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition (IMO)].

Frank Decolvenaere

To reply by e-mail, replace NMBR with 1612.

[jan winter]

You are all way ahead of me. I'm still choosing between Van Beinum/CO
and Monteux/VPO (both exerpts). I think it will be Van Beinum, because
the VPO is rather sloppy in some passages.

regards,

--
jan winter, amsterdam
(j.wi...@xs4all.nl)

Music is the healing force of the universe
(Albert Ayler)

[Andy Evans]

Bringing this thread up due to hearing a dire Overture on my car radio which I assumed to be some provincial orchestra but turned out to be VPO/Thielemann. Shocking! I imprinted on the excellent Philadelphia/Ormandy which is on YT in a crackly recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sGkV_MGAHA.

So looking for recordings with charm and the kind of magic the subject deserves.

[sfr...@nycap.rr.com]

Have you ever heard anything by Thielemann that you liked? I can’t say I ever have.

MIFrost

[Frank Berger]

On 9/20/2019 1:54 PM, sfr...@nycap.rr.com wrote:
> Have you ever heard anything by Thielemann that you liked? I can’t say I ever have.
>
> MIFrost
>

It must be that he is not thought highly of in RMCR. Most of my
acquisitions have come from recommendations here and elsewhere and out
of my > 10,000 CDs I have exactly one conducted by Thielmann. That's a
collection of arias sung by Thomas Quasthoff. I think I had another one
that I got rid of.

[Andy Evans]

I've been listening to a few Overtures from MND on YT and the two that stand out are Klemperer and Maag. Both are very individual readings with plenty of interesting detail. Too many versions just play right through the overture without moulding it to bring out more of facets of this imaginative score.

[Alex Brown]

On 2019-09-21 14:33, Andy Evans wrote:
> I've been listening to a few Overtures from MND on YT and the two that stand out are Klemperer and Maag. Both are very individual readings with plenty of interesting detail. Too many versions just play right through the overture without moulding it to bring out more of facets of this imaginative score.
>

If you like moulded, seek out Celibidache ...

--
- Alex Brown

[yipeng...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, 21 October 1999 15:00:00 UTC+8, Craig Wallace wrote:
> Can anyone please advise best recordings, musically, of the above and not
> just the overture?
> I have the Fricsay excerpts for reference.

> Cheers
> Craig W

Has anyone mentioned Ozawa's DG disc with Battle, von Stade and Dench yet? I know it isn't the complete score, but it presents a substantial chunk of the music laced with Shakespeare's text. Ozawa's conducting is affectionate and light-touch.

A more recent choice is the Virgin disc with John Nelson. It features the complete score and passages from the Shakespeare text read by a company of actors. (These two recordings are in English by the way.)

[cooper...@gmail.com]

I like Ádám Fischer's recording with the Hungarian State Orchestra, which is enhanced by the presence of Magda Kalmár. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nGgM7tFArKAuwS8FwSOSuqMqACAhe5D20

AC

[drh8h]

There was a fine early digital recording by Andrew Litton. Don't recall the orchestra. I should try to get Ozawa. This is music that I suspect would suit him well. Toscanini set a very high standard for what music of this he recorded, but most will be put off by the sound, although the recent Immortal Performances restoration of a live performance is quite good. Amongst the "classics," Fricsay, Kubelik and Klemperer all have their points. Szell obviously loved some of music, as he recorded it three times, but sometimes his persnicketiness shows.

DH

[RANDY WOLFGANG]

Maag on Decca - pure magic

[markm...@gmail.com]

Litton's recording was with the London Philharmonic on the EMI Eminence label.

Mark

[Bob Harper]

Yes!

Bob Harper

[Johannes Roehl]

Am Dienstag, 24. September 2019 02:45:02 UTC+2 schrieb yipeng...@gmail.com:
> On Thursday, 21 October 1999 15:00:00 UTC+8, Craig Wallace wrote:
> > Can anyone please advise best recordings, musically, of the above and not
> > just the overture?
> > I have the Fricsay excerpts for reference.
> > Cheers
> > Craig W
>
> Has anyone mentioned Ozawa's DG disc with Battle, von Stade and Dench yet? I know it isn't the complete score, but it presents a substantial chunk of the music laced with Shakespeare's text. Ozawa's conducting is affectionate and light-touch.

I think Ozawa is almost as complete as one can get the music on disc. It's certainly "more complete" than the recordings with Fricsay, Maag and another one or two I have. Battle/Von Stade are wonderful in the Lullaby and I think Dench does a very good job with the narration which is an acceptable substitute for having a bunch of actors. The English version is probably also a bonus for many listeners although Mendelssohn composed the Schlegel? translation.

A very interesting curiosity is Korngold's score for a movie that uses a lot of other Mendelssohn as well. I think there is a recording on cpo.

[Mark Obert-Thorn]

On Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 6:45:46 AM UTC-4, Johannes Roehl wrote:
> I think Ozawa is almost as complete as one can get the music on disc. It's certainly "more complete" than the recordings with Fricsay, Maag and another one or two I have.

I think the one below is probably the most complete version ever -- Sargent's 1954 BBC SO recording, with all of the music performed in the context of an almost complete performance of the play (with Moira Shearer, Stanley Holloway and Patrick Macnee in the cast):

https://www.pristineclassical.com/products/paco133?_pos=5&_sid=03d394a8d&_ss=r

Mark O-T

[sabi...@gmail.com]

Jeffrey Tate and the Rotterdam Philharmonic recorded a two disc set of Midsummer Night's Dream with the Peter Hall Company, released on EMI and Brilliant. Jaime Laredo also recorded a two disc set with actors and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra on Nimbus. I have not followed along with the text, so I cannot swear that each has the complete play and music. The spoken voices are somewhat below the volume of the music. (BTW, I don't care for either.)

If I want to listen to the play itself, I go to the Caedmon version, which was released on CD. Some day I will pull the Argo version out of the Shakespeare box. For the Mendelssohn, I second the recommendation for Litton and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in the Eminence box. I also like Rafael Frühbeck De Burgos with the New Philharmonia Orchestra on Eloquence. There are fourteen tracks for Midsummer Night's Dream on the CD, along with two overtures under Ansermet.

There is an audio book quality to Judi Dench's narration for Ozawa. If I want to hear Midsummer Night's Dream with some dialogue, I listen to the Nelson recording, which I find magical. I would like to listen to Sargent's 1954 BBC SO recording, but I was once burned at the Pristine Classical site. I was looking for the recording of Mendelssohn's Symphony #3 and #5 under Mitropoulos. The audio sample was corrupted: it made an extremely high pitched shrieking noise. My ears rang for days. I wrote to Mr. Rose, who was rather nonchalant about my experience. (I was told that the dangerous clip had been replaced, but I can't bring myself to listen to the transfers on the site.)

Eric

[RANDY WOLFGANG]

I find the Caedmon version far more theatrical and lively than the ARGO. I wish someone would issue all of the Caedmon Shakespeare on CD. I find the direction by Howard Sackler much more interesting than the rather staid ARGO sets.

[sabi...@gmail.com]

> I find the Caedmon version far more theatrical and lively than the ARGO. I wish someone would issue all of the Caedmon Shakespeare on CD. I find the direction by Howard Sackler much more interesting than the rather staid ARGO sets.

Yes, Argo is staid, which is why I am moving very slowly through the box. The Caedmon is much more involved, with many great actors. I realized what was at stake and bought all the plays that Harper Collins put out when they were released.

The actors of the Marlowe Society usually do have a sense of poetry and word meaning, which seems to go missing in more recent recordings and films of Shakespeare, at least the ones I've seen or heard. The actors have a generalized sense of what might be happening in a scene, but the words themselves seem to go for naught. On occasion I have had to use Naxos recordings so that my Brazilian students keep moving their eyes on the page when reading Shakespeare, but the presentations never seem "deep" or "felt" to me. There may be exceptions.

[O]

In article <f4681951-f1ac-4253...@googlegroups.com>,

Mark Obert-Thorn <markobe...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 6:45:46 AM UTC-4, Johannes Roehl wrote:
> > I think Ozawa is almost as complete as one can get the music on disc. It's
> > certainly "more complete" than the recordings with Fricsay, Maag and
> > another one or two I have.
>
> I think the one below is probably the most complete version ever -- Sargent's
> 1954 BBC SO recording, with all of the music performed in the context of an
> almost complete performance of the play (with Moira Shearer, Stanley Holloway
> and Patrick Macnee in the cast):

Patrick Macnee, but no Mrs. Peel? :-)

-Owen

[Frank Berger]

The wonderful Diana Rigg was about 16 years old in 1954. But she played
Helena in a 1968 film of MSND. It also lso included Derek Godfrey, Ian
Holm, Helen Mirren, David Warner and Judi Dench. Not well received
critically apparently.

Ms. Rigg is still working at 81. That's more than I can say for me (at
almost 72).

[Frank Berger]

For some reason a film with Ms. Rigg that I haven't seen for I don't
know how many year popped into my head. A very dark comedy with George
C. Scott called "The Hospital." A comedy about a failing marriage,
impotence, suicidal thoughts, a failing hospital and murders. What more
could you want?

[RANDY WOLFGANG]

I dont know why Harper Collins is dragging their feet on this - many of the Caedmon Shakespeare are on Audible but they are in MONO which negates many of Sacklers wonderful theatrical effects. There is another complete Shakespeare series with current actors on Arkangel but I haven't heard any of them

[number_six]

The last act didn't fully live up to the setup, IMO, but this is still a quality script by Chayevsky, and Scott and Rigg are both superb. Agree it's very sardonic, dark, and memorable. Circa 1971 -- a great year for film.

[Bob Harper]

I have seen it, and in all honesty it was not very good.

Bob Harper

[gggg...@gmail.com]

Diana Rigg: 1938 - 2020

https://news.google.com/search?q=diana%20rigg&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

[gggg...@gmail.com]

By the way, whatever happened to MR. Peel?

[gggg...@gmail.com]

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-mail/20170508/283261687754178

[Owen]

The Winged Avenger finally got to Mrs. Peel!

RIP - I'll miss her!

-Owen

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Friday, September 11, 2020 at 11:28:13 AM UTC-7, Owen wrote:

http://www.fansshare.com/gallery/photos/11412884/the-avengers-tv-show-with-diana-rigg-emma-peel-tv/?displaying

[Bob Harper]

The movie wasn't well received, but that was in part because the
director (Peter Hall) couldn't decide whether he was making it for the
big screen or the TV. That led to certain oddities. I watched it once
and didn't think it so bad. But...

The film was generally poorly received by critics.[7] Penelope Houston,
reviewing the film for The Spectator, wrote:[8]

Mr Hall's lovers … caper in their mini-skirts and flowered Beatle
blouses … around a stately home so sparsely furnished that you feel the
removal men are either assembling or dismantling. But stage influences
and scaling creep in: half the time … they might as well be running
around one small studio-planted coppice, with another daub of mud
slapped over their foreheads at the end of each circuit. Make-up seems
to present unlikely difficulties: Peaseblossom, Mustard Seed and their
confreres … appear startlingly haggard, as though late nights
ministering to Titania were taking their toll. The vaguely silvery,
vaguely dun-coloured faces of Oberon's flock seem to belong at stage
distance; close- up, the fairy kingdom looks like a dusky progressive
school suffering from a nasty epidemic of pink-eye. (Wiki)

Bob Harper

[Neil]

On Sunday, 6 October 2019 14:00:15 UTC+1, Mark Obert-Thorn wrote:

>
> I think the one below is probably the most complete version ever -- Sargent's 1954 BBC SO recording, with all of the music performed in the context of an almost complete performance of the play (with Moira Shearer, Stanley Holloway and Patrick Macnee in the cast):
>
> https://www.pristineclassical.com/products/paco133?_pos=5&_sid=03d394a8d&_ss=r
>
> Mark O-T

Stanley Holloway! He played Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream for the RSC that then toured in the US. From that came Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady. And the rest is history!