Britten: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (DVD) – James Bowman, Ileana Cotrubas

Composer: Benjamin Britten
Artists: James Bowman, Ileana Cotrubas, Curt Appelgren, Felicity Lott, Cynthia Buchan, Ryland Davies, Dale Duesing, Robert Bryson, Andrew Gallagher, Donald Bell, Patrick Power, Adrian Thompson, Lieuwe Visser, Claire Powell, Damien Nash, The Glyndebourne Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Bernard Haitink
Director: Peter Hall
Video Format: NTSC 4:3
Sound Format: Dolby Digital 2.0
Region: All Regions
Language: English
Subtitles: English, German, Spanish
Number of Discs: 1
Studio: Opus Arte
Release Date: July 13, 2023
Run Time: 156 minutes

Glyndebourne’s 1981 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is pure magic. Brilliantly adapted from Shakespeare’s play, the opera follows the adventures of four lovers and a group of naïve rustics who, in a wood on a moonstruck midsummer night, fall foul of Oberon and Titania, the quarrelling king and queen of the fairies. 

In Peter Hall’s remarkable staging, the very wood comes alive as logs and trees move and rustle, creating ambiguous silhouettes in the dark mysterious woodland, lit only by designer John Bury’s wonderful rising sun and moon.

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