Search - Felix [1] Mendelssohn, Claus Peter Flor, Marjana Lipovsek :: Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream; Overtures

A generous budget version of Mendelssohn's delightful fairy

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/24/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"RCA hit the jackpot with Gunter Wand, promoting a provincial German conductor and orchestra into the big time. Perhaps they hoped to strike gold again with Claus Peter Flor and his Bambergers. It didn't quite happenn, but Flor left a more than respectable legacy. This bargain CD conflates two of his best efforts, a 1988 Midsummer Night's Dream and Mendelssohn's three best overtures (none the equal of MND, admittedly).



Flor's view of Mendelssohn's delightful fairy scenario is a mite serious and weighty throughout, an effect abetted by a somewhat blowzy recording -- the resonant hall robs the woodwind and string playing of delicacy. Soloists Lucia Popp and Marjana Lipovsek are glamorous toppings to the two vocal numbers. The overtures are also solid and enthusiastic without really catching fire in any special way.



I don't mean to equivocate. This is a fine bargain, and the Gramophone's reviewer enthusiastically thrust Flor's MND to the top of the list, just short of the classic Previn account on EMI. I think three or four othrs beat him, including Marriner (Philips) and Ozawa (DG). We face an embarrassment of riches at every price level now."