Dream of Midsummer

Conductors have long used Mendelssohn’s music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream to display an orchestra’s refinement, transparency and polish. By contrast, notwithstanding their characteristic smoothness, Frans Brüggen and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century opt to emphasise the grain of the music rather than its evanescence. Not for them the moon-drenched sheen of the so-called Nocturne – here the horn parses the melody with greater detail than usual, and the flutes in the reprise sigh passionately. Violin mists in the early stages of the overture emerge tangible and rhythmic, while the Wedding March discards the customary streamlined effect in favour of airier accent patterns.

William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet, and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship.