Ralf Oehlmann <[log in to unmask]> asked for recommendations of
Mendelssohn's "Midsummer Night's Dream" (English or German version)?

I guess the film must be playing in Germany.  Mendelssohn will get a
momentary boost if anyone bothers to realize that the soundtrack was really
his Midsummer Night's Dream and not the thin disguise of some flimsy film
composer whose name appears in big letters.  Mendelssohn is mentioned after
the theater has emptied.  But the Italian countryside as filmed was a joy
for the eye.  The visual effects are usually better than the films
themselves and this was certainly no winner as is the case with "The Red
Violin."

But to get to the recommendation.  If you can still find London's
"Classical Weekend" series, it has the incidental music conducted by
Fruhbeck de Burgos, who like Carlos Kleiber does very little recording as
more and more with integrity leave the rotting classical music BUSINESS.
All Fruhbeck's ventures into Mendelssohn are superb.  His "Elijah" is
wonderful.  It is the version I lived with and have loved since it first
appeared on LP.  I believe it was the first full recorded version of this
magnificent Oratorio on LP.  The more recent version with Terfel and
Fleming is the equal of the Fruhbeck.  It has it over the much older
Fruhbeck in detail because the sound is so much better.  Without Elijah
there would have been no German Requiem.

The singers in Midsummer Night's Dream are fine although no household
words.  But Fruhbeck de Burgos conducts the Ambrosian Singers and the New
Philharmonia when it was in its heyday.  For a bonus you get "Die Erste
Walpurgisnacht" which is underrated to the point of obscurity, but may be
Mendelssohn best and most integrated choral work.  Every Mendelssohn work
must, of course, include a scherzo.  Here the sung scherzo is sheer genius.
This piece is conducted by Von Dohnanyi with the Vienna Philharmonic.  Tom
Krause is one of the singers.  Von Dohnanyi is another conductor dedicated
to Mendelssohn who discards that stupid antimacassar approach to
Mendelssohn and realizes Mendelssohn is one of the pillars of German music.

Andrew E. Carlan <[log in to unmask]>
"Standing Up For Nielsen"