Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Klauspeter Seibel

“The bloom of youth suffuses it almost more than any other work by this composer. The mature master made his first and highest flight in a most happy moment.” We cannot but agree with Schumann. The overture that the 17-year-old Mendelssohn composed for Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream leads us after just a few moments into that magical realm between visible and invisible phenomena – a world of elves, yokels and high-born personages, mysterious goings-on in the forest and raucous comedy.

The way Mendelssohn tunes into all kinds of fun and games is one of the most appealing features of this programme. Together with the little-known “Trumpet Overture” and the preludes to two charming “operettas” devised by himself, the programme contains two further great pieces in which one of his particular skills is impressively evident: the ability to sketch moods, colours, scenarios and poetic content in a few brush-strokes.

Both the Scotland that he had personally experienced in Fingal’s Cave and depicted in the Hebrides Overture, and the two-part tableau based on Goethe’s twin poems “Calm Sea” and “Prosperous Voyage”, raise the so-called overture genre into the realm of quasi-programme music, while, in true classical tradition, the composer avoids excess and remains free from the taint of any whim of fashion.

Track listing

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
[1] Camacho’s Wedding op. 10 6:50
[2] Trompet Overture op. 101 10:12
[3] A Midsummer Night’s Dream op. 21 12:28
[4] Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage op. 27 12:28
[5] Son and Stranger op. 89 7:46
[6] The Hebrides op. 26 10:05

TT: 59:49