Purcell's A Midsummer Night's Dream
Friday 6 January 2006 19:30-21:45 (Radio 3)
Continuing this special Christmas and New Year series of highlights from last summer's Proms.
Purcell's lavish semi-opera, a spectacular reworking of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream, was a huge success when it was premiered at the Dorset Garden Theatre in 1692, and contains some of the composer's most ethereal and sensual music.
Oberon and Titania are the quarrelling King and Queen of the Fairies who inhabit a bizarre unfolding world of farce and wit.
Presented by Sean Rafferty.
Recorded at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
Duration:
2 hours 15 minutes
Playlist:
Purcell: The Fairy Queen (concert performance)
Rebecca Outram (soprano)
Mhairi Lawson (soprano)
Julia Gooding (soprano)
Susan Hemington-Jones (soprano)
Daniel Auchincloss (tenor)
Charles Daniels (tenor)
Mark Le Brocq (tenor)
Peter Harvey (bass)
Jonathan Best (bass)
Gabrieli Consort & Players
Paul McCreesh (director)
