Arthur Sullivan & Jean Sibelius – Shakespeare’s Tempest (2008)
(Kansas City Symphony, conducted by Michael Stern)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 68:44 minutes | 1,19 GB | Genre: Classical
Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Digital Booklet | © Reference Recordings
Under the dynamic direction of Music Director Michael Stern, The Kansas City Symphony covers itself in glory with incidental music for The Tempest by Sir Arthur Sullivan and Jean Sibelius. This is the first high-resolution digital recording of the Sullivan (of Gilbert & Sullivan fame), and a masterful performance of the colorful Sibelius suites, including the seldom-heard Prelude, which depicts the Shakespearean tempest in all its fury…
Coupling Arthur Sullivan and Jean Sibelius’ scores for Shakespeare’s The Tempest was a brilliant decision. How else could one so easily and directly compare the two composers, the one a master of late-Victorian operetta and the other a master of early modernist symphonism? Perhaps unsurprisingly, Sullivan’s Suite is Mendelssohnian in its essence and those who hear the elves from a Midsummer Night’s Dream in its pages are probably not wholly mistaken. “Banquet Dance” with its bouncy strings, the “Overture to Act IV” with its charming bells and flutes, and the “Dance of Nymphs and Reapers” with its spiccato violins over legato cellos could easily be mistaken for outtakes from Mendelssohn’s incidental music. Sibelius’ score is made from sterner stuff. From the cosmic storm of the Prelude through the melancholy magnificence of “Prospero” to the otherworldly mystery of the “Berceuse,” Sibelius’ take on The Tempest is darker, grander, and much more frightening than Sullivan’s..
The performance by the Kansas City Symphony under Michael Stern are as brilliant as the coupling. With their robust ensemble and a vigorous sense of purpose, these are performances filled with poetry, passion, and power. Whether in Sullivan’s sprightly Tempest or Sibelius’ spooky Tempest, Stern and the Kansas City musicians turn in first-rate performances. Recorded in crisp, vital sound, this disc is delightful from start to finish.
Tracklist:
01 – Sullivan: The Tempest, Op. 1 – 1. Introduction
02 – Sullivan: The Tempest, Op. 1 – 2. Act 3: Prelude
03 – Sullivan: The Tempest, Op. 1 – 3. Act 3: Banquet Dance
04 – Sullivan: The Tempest, Op. 1 – 4. Act 4: Overture
05 – Sullivan: The Tempest, Op. 1 – 5. Act 4: Dance of Nymphs and Reapers
06 – Sullivan: The Tempest, Op. 1 – 6. Act 5: Prelude
07 – Sullivan: The Tempest, Op. 1 – 7. Act 5: Postlude
08 – Sibelius: The Tempest, Op. 109 – Prelude
09 – Sibelius: The Tempest, Op. 109 – Suite No. 2
10 – Sibelius: The Tempest, Op. 109 – Suite No. 1
Download:
### links are broken, waiting to update ###/49n4nwrb5thf/SullivanSibeliusShakespearesTheTempestMichaelSternKansasCitySymphony20082496.part1.rar.html
### links are broken, waiting to update ###/6l6tlcezr5j8/SullivanSibeliusShakespearesTheTempestMichaelSternKansasCitySymphony20082496.part2.rar.html