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Tippett: The Midsummer Marriage
LPO-0124
3 CD set
Made in Lithuania
℗ 2021 BBC
© 2022 London Philharmonic Orchestra Ltd
Recorded live by BBC Radio 3 at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on 25 September 2021.
Supported by the Michael Tippett Musical Foundation in memory of Dennis Marks.
Producer: Anthony Sellors
Engineer: Philip Burwell
Post-production & editing: Andrew Walton, K&A Productions
Digital mixing: Deborah Spanton, K&A Productions
Publisher: Schott Music Ltd
Total playing time: 02:38:23
Released: 23 September 2022
CD: Tippett: The Midsummer Marriage
Gramophone's Opera Award 2023 Category Winner
Tippett The Midsummer Marriage
Edward Gardner conductor
Robert Murray Mark
Rachel Nicholls Jenifer
Ashley Riches King Fisher
Jennifer France Bella
Toby Spence Jack
Claire Barnett-Jones Sosostris
Susan Bickley She-Ancient
Joshua Bloom He-Ancient
John Findon Dancing Man
Paul Sheehan Half-Tipsy Man
Robert Winslade Anderson A Man
Sophie Goldrick A Girl
London Philharmonic Choir
English National Opera Chorus
Powered by hope and glowing with an irrepressible life-force, Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage burst like a huge, colourful blossom into the grey world of postwar British music. There’s still nothing quite like it, and it’s all told in some of the most deliriously beautiful music ever written in these isles.
Tippett’s first opera receives its first commercially available recording in over 50 years, in a landmark performance conducted by Tippett enthusiast Edward Gardner. Recorded at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, this performance was a thrilling start to Edward Gardner’s tenure as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Available on:
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Reviews
Midsummer Marriage finds its modern reference engraving in the fervor of this candid capture
Diaspon d’Or, April 2024
There’s a sense of purpose – an irrepressible upward swing – that pulls you in and carries you right through to those blissful, blossoming final bars.
Gramophone Classical Music Award 2023: Opera Category
Edward Gardner’s choice of a still unproven opera in English for a debut recording with his new orchestra pays off spectacularly well.
Gramophone (2022 Critics' Choice)
Powered by the sumptuous playing of the LPO and the contributions of its chorus, the performance is charged with a special intensity in every bar.
The Guardian, Top 10 Classical Releases of 2022
This is Edward Gardner’s show, and he rises to Tippett’s challenge superbly.
BBC Music Magazine
A performance of integrity and intensity
Gramophone Critics' Choice, December 2022
This live recording, admirably played and decently sung, should do much to win Tippett's finest opera a new generation of admirers.
The Financial Times (Best Classical Albums of 2022)
Download the CD booklet