Track Listing

1. Andante - Allegro con fuoco
2. Allegro vivace
3. Andante
4. Ein' veste Burg ist unser Gott - Andante con moto - Allegro vivace - Allegro maestoso - Vivace
5. Adagio, Allegro
6. Andante
7. Menuetto & Trio
8. Finale. Vivace assai

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #144015 in Music
• Released on: 1998-05-12
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a score that sounds better the faster you play it, generally speaking. Of course, precision must never be sacrificed for speed, and Paul Paray gives us the best of both worlds in a sizzling Overture and Scherzo. In fact, all of the music here is played swiftly, elegantly, and with style. Paray was probably the last practitioner of a lost style of French conducting, preferring a lithe, lean sound that ideally complements Mercury's pinpoint recording techniques. This sort of classical poise perfectly suits Haydn as well, so if this combination appeals, then by all means give it a shot. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews

I can only concur
Paul Paray was such a phenomenon, it's no wonder he has a worldwide cult following.

Nowhere on record is there such an extraordinarily delicate and serene performance of the Midsummer incidental music highlights. Paray approaches this as music for a stage production, not concert music, an approach that paid off in spades for him in his classic L'Arlesienne suites also on Mercury.

The tempi are swift, the playing lean, fluent, astonishingly fluid. The combination of amazing orchestral execution and the joy of virtuosity simply transports us into the Shakespearian realm in all its absorbing poetry and light. There has been nothing quite like it before or since and the spell it weaves on us makes us shake our heads in wonder as to how old Paray found all of this. It's nothing short of an artistic revelation.

The symphony, not a favorite of mine, is so beautifully proportioned, so well-attended, so dignified and dramatic, that I've always found every other performance of it pretty much a waste of time (even Toscanini). Paray actually makes me think it's Mendelssohn at his best...which it's not.

The Haydn was a great Paray specialty: audiences were so enchanted with it at Carnegie Hall, that reviewers reported whistling and courtly dancing in the lobby after concerts. The Detroit Symphony outdoes itself in replicating this scene with its virtuosity and idiomatic presentation, giving old Paray its all, despite a less-than-authentic edition. With interpetative inspiration like this, Haydn can survive any "foul papers."

A remarkable reissue that will please everyone for its historic importance and its utter impact as joyous music.

¡Qué buen disco!
Un disco EXTRAORDINARIO, Paray está glorioso a un estilo muy toscaniniano, la interpretación de la Reforma, es sencillamente COLOSAL.

Routine performances, screechy sonics
Despite the Amazon critic's nonsensical notion that Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream sounds better the faster you play it, Paray delivers a sprightly account that is the most pleasing thing on this CD. The Reformation Sym. is brusque and foursquare, delivered in screechy, edgy sound--Mercury Living Presence is a lot more variable than its diehard enthusiasts would lead one to believe. The Haydn is a good, middle-of-the-road reading. In all these works the Detroit Sym. Orch. plays well without being in any way a virtuoso ensemble. All in al, this would be a decent three-star collection if the sound were better.