Thank you for the review Graham. Unlike hiredfox I've been quite happy with the new Dausgaard recording of MSND, but I would add this one if the vocal numbers are in English. Would you clarify please? Thanks.

Bill

So I am curious about a comparison between this and the new Bis recording. The running time for Midsummer Night's Dream on the Chandos disc is 39:44 and on the Bis disc is 49:26. So should I assume the Chandos disc is less complete in the Incidental Music? Also comments on relative sound quality would be helpful. If there is a difference in the language choice for the vocal parts, that would be important for a potential consumer to know.

Hi Bill
Yes the vocal numbers are sung in English and they are also printed in the liner notes.

diw As I stated in my review, six of the thirteen melodramas are omitted so I assume that this wholly or partly accounts for the timing difference with Dausgaard. As I have not heard the Dausgaard recording I am unable to comment on its sound quality compared with that from Chandos

Thanks for the update, Graham. For an English speaker Bunte Schlangen, zweigezungt doesn't have quite the appeal of "You spotted snakes...".

I bought this and the BIS discs at the same time so a direct comparison of Gardner and Dausgaard was more or less unavoidable. For the reasons cited elsewhere Gardner's more expressive and dramatic reading was much preferred by this listener. Neither challenges as a front runner.

It was a brave if inevitable decision for Jennifer Pike to record the Mendelssohn concerto, everyone does of course and the result is a very crowded field of top class performances from just about every notable and gifted violinist on the planet past and present. In that context this becomes just another version to add to the list but on it's own merit is still beautifully played. Historically, Kyung-wha Chung still takes top honours for me, more recently on SACD Mullova is hard to beat.

For your pleasure ladies and gentlemen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm1QiKSO5bk

Not always a contrarian, nonetheless Pike's performance of the Mendelssohn strikes me as a low voltage affair. The incidental music to a Midsummmer Night's Dream, on the other hand, impresses as much as Litton's excellent LPO performance on EMI, though less complete. Like hiredfox, I didn't warm to Dausgaard's offering on BIS.

Altogether a pretty nice disc. Pike's concerto is smooth, and yes, somewhat low voltage. Gardner's take on MSND is indeed more dramatic than Dausgaard's , and that's a plus, but the singers' diction is nothing to write home about, making this almost as indistinguishable to an English speaker as the BIS recording in German. The sound is better than reviews of previous discs in this series led me to expect, but isn't nearly as good as the BIS. And, of course, the BIS recording is actually complete while here the melodramas have been sacrificed, for no apparent reason since the added 10 minutes +/- would have fit. Altogether pretty much a case of swings and roundabouts, neither recording being outstanding, but both having achieved a good to very good standard.

Ha ha, Bill. Do you listen to the words? My only critique would be that lisping could confound the time signature. ;-)

I try, Euell, I try, but my efforts were unavailing here. A somewhat elderly Previn recording on EMI is much better in that respect, one of the many casualties of EMI's (and successors) ludicrous failure to exploit their multichannel back catalog.