“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” has inspired many forms of artistic expression, including film, ballet and music.
William Shakespeare’s play is the fanciful, poetic setting of Felix Mendelssohn’s overture and incidental music, Opp. 21 and 61, performed by the Colorado Symphony and a cadre of singers and actors Friday.
Under Andrew Grams’ direction, the orchestra rendered the overture’s thematic depiction of mystical forest sprites with an airy lightness. The young maestro also drove home the sweetness of lovers’ sighs and the work’s masterful, colorful representation of Bottom, the ass.
The winning score continued with a graceful, nimble reading of the Scherzo that begins the incidental music. Grams’ grasp of the intricate sonorities drew forth from the orchestra a wonderfully playful, polished performance.
In “The Song with Chorus,” the Colorado Children’s Chorale delivered a spot-on interpretation of fairies and flowers in an enchanted forest, whereas the Intermezzo was aptly agitated to establish the desperation of Shakespeare’s pairs of lovers. Also of note were resonant, well-paced passages featuring the complementary sopranos of Katherine Whyte and Michelle Areyzaga.
The ethereal Nocturne featured fine playing from the bassoon and horns, and the well-known “Wedding March” was every bit as grand and regal as one might expect.
Interspersed throughout the incidental music were four melodramas featuring eloquent, charmingly comedic performances by actor Leigh Miller. His counterpart, Shelly Gaza, was also solid in her various roles, but their repartee was slightly marred by an echo and reverberation in their amplified sound.
The overall pleasing program opened with Wagner’s pensive Prelude and “Good Friday Spell” from his opera “Parsifal.”
Grams sculpted each phrase with care and introspection, the orchestra gathering force within controlled and measured tempi.
The Easter concert repeats at Boettcher Concert Hall today at 7:30 p.m.
