Henry Purcell: The Fairy Queen

Actors — Titania: Sally Dexter; Oberon: Joseph Millson; Bottom: Desmond Barrit; Puck: Jotham Annan; Hermia: Susannah Wise; Demetrius: Oliver Le Sueur; Lysander: Oliver Kieran Jones.
Singers — Juno / Mystery: Lucy Crowe; Spring / First Fairy: Claire Debono; Second Fairy: Anna Devin; Eve: Helen-Jane Howells; Night: Carolyn Sampson; Mopsa: Robert Burt; Summer: Sean Clayton; Secrecy / Adam: Ed Lyon Autumn: Adrian Ward; Phœbus: Lukas Kargl; Drunken Poet: Desmond Barrit; Winter / Sleep / Coridon / Hymen: Andrew Foster-Williams.
Glyndebourne Chorus. Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. William Christie, conductor.
Jonathan Kent, stage director.
Recorded live at Glyndebourne Opera House, Lewes, East Sussex, July 2009 [221 minutes]

Opus Arte OA 1031 D

A lavish staging at Glyndebourne, recreating the extravagances of the period, apparently irresistible in the opera house, but seen at home beset by longuers, partly because the camera work often shows the scenes a little too dark.

The production aims at being the most complete ever seen since the days of its creation; the spoken text could do with cutting, but taken in parts (there are five Acts) it does make for a valuable experience in its attempt to recreate the excesses of theatrical presentation in the late 17 C.

The fullest, and fully illustrated, review of this DVD is to be found at myreviewer.com, and I recommend you to click onto that link.

Peter Grahame Woolf

See also CD review of recording by Accademia Bizantina/ Ottavio Dantone

Collected reviews on TheOperaCritic of this production as seen at Glyndenourne: