This is a very fine recording of Mendelssohn’s more-or-less complete music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream that also includes dialogue ably rendered by The Oxford and Cambridge Shakespeare Company. John Nelson has at his disposal a fine chamber ensemble such as might actually have played as a pit orchestra in a theater, and he gives a performance that doesn’t treat the music as a virtuoso vehicle yet retains substantial atmosphere and color. So you won’t find the most dazzling account of the scherzo here, though it is beautifully played and shaped. Nor does Nelson try to set a speed record in the scurrying violin music of the overture–but the purity of the opening wind chords is a pleasure to behold.
Indeed, Nelson doesn’t put a foot wrong. The Nocturne comes across as eloquently poetic, while the Wedding March is quite grand. We even get a bonus in the form of a fine account of the Ruy Blas Overture, tossed in for good measure. There is a fundamental issue here, though, of just how many times you will want to repeat the experience of hearing the melodramas with spoken text over music, and that can only be a matter of individual taste. Nimbus released a similar project at the dawn of the CD era that, if memory serves, was even more complete regarding the Shakespearean angle, and was spread over two discs. Still, if you want a sense of how Mendelssohn’s music actually works in a performance of the play, this release fills the bill nicely and offers plenty of musical rewards as well. [7/12/2003]
