Tippett: The Midsummer Marriage, Opera in Three Acts

Description

Product description Chorus and Orchestra of Royal Opera House, Covent Garden - Sir Colin Davis, direction .co.uk For those open to its message, hearing The Midsummer Marriage in 1955 must have been like an outburst of Technicolor in the often grey Britain of the post-war era. After a decade of downbeat realism on the stage, such a visionary statement must have come as a real shock. Even now, its vigour and sensuality can seem too much of a good thing over two-and-a-half hours, packing in a great deal of activity within the Jung-inspired scenario of self-realisation. Pick up what's crucial of this simply by getting to know the music which, drawing on a range of influences across four centuries, has all the passion and ecstasy of Tippett's work through the 1950s. This recording, taken from a run of live performances in 1970, does it proud. From a first rate cast, Alberto Remedios and Elizabeth Harwood stand out, as does Helen Watts as the mysterious Sosostris. Colin Davis gets playing of real energy from the ROH forces. We need Midsummer Marriage's life-enhancing qualities more than ever. --Richard Whitehouse