FELIX MENDELSSOHN A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Orchestra of the Eighteenth CenturyFrans Brüggen
GCD C81101
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Performing artists
Gulbenkian Choir Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century directed by Frans Brüggen
Production details
Playing time: 44:39 Recorded live in Utrecht (Vredenburg), The Netherlands, in June 1997 Engineered by Dick van Schuppen & Henk Jansen Produced by Gerd Berg & Hartwig Paulsen Executive producer: Sieuwert Verster & Carlos Céster Design: Valentín Iglesias Booklet in English - Français - Deutsch - Español
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FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Ein Sommernachtstraum(Ouverture, op. 21, 1826 - Incidental music, op. 61, 1842)
1 Ouverture. Allegro di molto2 Scherzo. Allegro vivace3 Allegro vivace4 Song with Chorus. Allegro ma non troppo5 Allegro appassionato6 Con moto tranquillo7 Wedding March. Allegro vivace8 Marcia funebre. Andante comodo9 A Dance of Clowns. Allegro di molto10 Finale. Allegro di molto
How has the orchestra’s approach to the Beethoven symphonies evolved over the years?
This is a discussion that is very much alive in the orchestra: when we first started, we had no repertoire. So, with every piece that we were approaching we had to work and to discuss, in the old-fashioned way. For years we worked like this, never doing more than one Beethoven symphony in a year – and then we played it over and over again. So, it took us twelve years before we completed the cycle with the Ninth. If you play such pieces again after so many years, things start to change: tempi have changed and whereas we had always been arrogant about all those conductors, who after a certain period of time, decided to rerecord pieces, we – the orchestra members and me personally – now think that it is a good idea to do it again. [read more...]