Composer: Sir Michael Tippett
Performer: Robert Murray, Rachel Nicholls, Ashley Riches, Jennifer France, Toby Spence, Claire Barnett-Jones, Susan Bickley, Joshua Bloom, London Philharmonic Chorus, English National Opera Chorus
Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Sir Michael Tippett
Number of Discs: 3
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: LPO
Catalogue: LPO0124
Release: 2022
Size: 1.53 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
The Midsummer Marriage
CD 01
Act I
01. Scene 1: Start
02. Scene 1: What’s that? Surely music?
03. Scene 2: Start
04. Scene 2: Stop! Stop, stop!
05. Scene 2: Alla marcia. Andante
06. Scene 3: Mark, Chorus
07. Scene 4: Mark, Jenifer, Chorus
08. Scene 5: King Fisher, Bella, Chorus, Ancients
09. Scene 6: Start
10. Scene 6: So you, so you, so you’re the company my daughter keeps
11. Scene 7: King Fisher, Jack, Bella, Chorus, Sosostris
12. Scene 8: Start
13. Scene 8: Returning to the earth is cruel
14. Scene 8: Is it so strange…
15. Scene 8: You, you who were with me when she left me
16. Scene 8: As stallions stamping the young men dance
17. Scene 8: See by a heavenly magic…
18. Scene 8: We are the laughing children
CD 02
Act II
01. Pre-scene: Start
02. Pre-scene: Crying as they’re flying and this is what they say
03. Scene 1: Start
04. Scene 1: I’ll lay the baby to my breast and rock it
05. Scene 1: Come within the shadow of the wood
06. Scene 2: Strephon, Dancers
07. 1st Dance: The Earth in Autumn
08. 2nd Dance: The Waters in Winter
09. 3rd Dance: The Air in Spring
10. Scene 3: Bella, Jack
11. Post-Scene: Chorus offstage
CD 03
Act III
01. Start
02. Scene 1: Chorus, Half-Tipsy Man, A Dancing Man, King Fisher
03. Scene 2: King Fisher, Chorus
04. Scene 3: King Fisher, Bella, Ancients
05. Scene 4: Chorus
06. Scene 5: Start
07. Scene 5: Who hopes to conjure with the world of dreams
08. Scene 5: I alone, cannot consult myself
09. Scene 5: You who consult me should never, [never,] doubt me
10. Scene 5: I see a meadow, fragrant with flowers
11. Scene 6: King Fisher, Bella, Jack, Chorus, Sosostris
12. Scene 7: Ancients, King Fisher, Chorus
13. Scene 8: Start
14. Scene 8: Poco meno mosso – Fire! Fire!
15. 4th Dance: Fire in Summer
16. Scene 9: Start
17. Scene 9: O summer sun golden faced glorious globe
18. Scene 9: Allegretto non troppo
19. Scene 9: Jenifer, Jenifer, my darling
20. Scene 9: Piu mosso alla breve – fall and are built again
Powered by hope and glowing with an irrepressible life- force, Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage burst like a huge, colourful blossom into the grey world of post-war British music.
There’s still nothing quite like it, and it’s all told in some of the most deliriously beautiful music ever written in these isles.
Tippett’s first opera receives its first commercially available recording in over 50 years, in a landmark performance conducted by Tippett enthusiast Edward Gardner.
Recorded at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, this performance was a thrilling start to Edward Gardner’s tenure as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.