Mendelssohn/Tchaikovsky: A Midsummer Night's Dream (DVD)

In the Overture and Incidental Music to William Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, Felix Mendelssohn brings the illustrious company of elves, lovers' passions and the solitude of the forest or a moonlit night to musical life. It became a model for other literary reflections in music like Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony. Its four movements – or 'images', as the composer himself named them – capture the world-weariness of George Byron's Manfred: A Dramatic Poem in music. Riccardo Chailly and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra awaken the musical imagery of both works in a colourful, fresh and enchanting performance.