As practically every classical music fan (and a whole lot
of others as well) knows, German composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) started
working on his music for Shakespeare’s play A
Midsummer Night’s Dream when he was but a teen, composing the Overture in 1826 when he was only
seventeen. But he wasn’t in any hurry, completing the work sixteen years later
in 1841 while employed by the Prussian court. The King suggested he compose
some complete incidental music for a new production of the Shakespeare play,
and Mendelssohn complied, already having written the opening tune.
Maestro Philippe Herreweghe provides on the album all of
the most-popular numbers from the work, without some of the smaller,
less-familiar connecting music. It’s pretty much what most listeners expect.
Moreover, Herreweghe’s approach to the score comes across as quite comforting,
if not so airy, mercurial, or magic as the performances by Otto Klemperer (EMI)
and Andre Previn (EMI). The music, of course, is highly programmatic, representing
Shakespeare’s major plot ideas and characters, most notably Puck, Bottom, the
Duke, and the fairies.
Herreweghe offers us a stately, sedate introduction to the
Overture, and then opens it up with a
fairly lively flurry of fairies and pixie dust. After that, the whole movement
settles down into a more traditional approach, sweet and characterful. It’s
indicative of the kind of performance we’re going to get, one filled with color
and romance, yet refined and elegant, too.
Likewise, the Scherzo
displays plenty of bounce; the March of
the Elves offers a welcome rhythmic charm; and “Ye Spotted Snakes” is
suitably enchanting, even sung in German rather the more commonly heard English
of Shakespeare.
One minor disconcerting moment comes with the Nocturne, which Herreweghe takes at a
brisker pace than one usually hears. While it perhaps matches the rest of his
zesty reading of contrasts, it doesn’t entirely convey the gentle, enchanting
atmosphere the scene deserves.
Fortunately, the Wedding
March brings us back to the regal festivities of the play with a telling
gaiety. The concluding tunes also go comfortably well, with the
choral-orchestral Finale bringing us
full circle to echoes of the Overture’s melodies.
The album concludes with a coupling of Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, also known as Fingal’s Cave (1830-32). Herreweghe’s
rendering seems a bit lightweight for the craggy countenance of the coastline
it describes. It also seems a little too solemn for my liking, losing some of
the strangeness and “Scottishness” the composer said he encountered upon
visiting the site of the music’s inspiration. I suppose you could say it’s
rather a Gallic vision of the Scottish landscape.
The sound, which Harmonia Mundi recorded in 1994 and have
reissued here in their “Gold” series, is warm and resonant and a tad heavy,
perhaps not ideally suited for audiophile listening but fitting nicely with the
sort of Romantic idealism and adventure Herreweghe wants to communicate. The
sound, like the performance, is at once cozy and intimate yet glittering and
extrovert. You’ll find a golden glow around the sonics that is quite alluring,
with reasonably wide dynamics and a smooth execution.
JJP
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