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Britten: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Elizabeth Harwood (Tytania), Alfred Deller (Oberon), Peter Pears (Lysander), Thomas Hemsley (Demetrius), Heather Harper (Helena), Josephine Veasey (Hermia), John Shirley-Quirk (Theseus), Helen Watts (Hippolyta), Owen Brannigan (Bottom), Norman Lumsden (Quince)
London Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin...
It hardly needs saying that Britten's direction of his piece is superlative...In this Dream, Britten combines the sense of atmosphere and beauty of tone...And it is an enthralling experience.
Britten: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Elizabeth Harwood (Tytania), Alfred Deller (Oberon), Peter Pears (Lysander), Thomas Hemsley (Demetrius), Heather Harper (Helena), Josephine Veasey (Hermia), John Shirley-Quirk (Theseus), Helen Watts (Hippolyta), Owen Brannigan (Bottom), Norman Lumsden (Quince)
London Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin...
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It hardly needs saying that Britten's direction of his piece is superlative...In this Dream, Britten combines the sense of atmosphere and beauty of tone...And it is an enthralling experience.
About
Contents and tracklist
- Stephen Terry (voice), Ian Wodehouse (treble), Gordon Clark (treble), Richard Dakin (treble), John Pryor (treble), Elizabeth Harwood (soprano), Alfred Deller (countertenor), Peter Pears (tenor), Josephine Veasey (mezzo-soprano), Heather Harper (soprano), Thomas Hemsley (baritone), David Kelly (bass), Norman Lumsden (bass), Robert Tear (tenor), Keith Raggett (tenor), Kenneth McDonald (tenor), Owen Brannigan (bass), John Shirley-Quirk (baritone), Helen Watts (contralto)
- London Symphony Orchestra, Choir of Downside School, Purley, Emanuel School Wandsworth, Boys' Choir
- Benjamin Britten
- Recorded: 1966-09-23
- Recording Venue: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London
Awards and reviews
May 1967
It hardly needs saying that Britten's direction of his piece is superlative...In this Dream, Britten combines the sense of atmosphere and beauty of tone...And it is an enthralling experience.
2010 edition
Britten again proves himself an ideal interpreter of his own music and draws virtuoso playing from the LSO...The mechanicals are admirably led by Owen Brannigan as Bottom; and among the lovers Josephine Veasey (Hermia) is outstanding. Deller, with his magical male alto singing, is the eerily effective Oberon.
2011 edition
John Culshaw, the recording manager, put an extra halo round the fairy music to act as a substitute for visual atmosphere.
Good CD Guide
This recording remains as fresh and inspired as the day it was made. Britten's taut, disciplined yet magical reading is unsurpassed.
