Sommernachtsträume

Publisher: RN Audio, KF13082022-29

Playing time: 32 min

Specifications: half track ¼“, stereo, 1 metal reel, 44,1 kHz dig. master, 514 nWb/m, CCIR, 38 cm/s

Homepage: https://www.tapemusic.eu/master-tapes/klassik/

Translation of the German review:  

After my enthusiasm for the "Opera Gala", it occurred to me at the end of the summer of 2022 to ask RN Audio for a follow-up product. I was lucky: the release of the "Sommernachtsträume" (“Summer Night's Dreams”) was in the planning stage and so I received the tape a short time later. The recordings were made in 2005 at the 8th European Classical Music Festival in the Saalbau in Bottrop (Germany). The EurOrchestra, composed of top European musicians, played. The conductor was Daniel Lipton, who enjoys high international recognition.  

The interpretations of the opera excerpts are characterized by a serenity or lightness. This creates the space that this music needs to create the arches between feather-light piano and expressive tutti passages, but also the framework for Elisabeth Otzisk and Timothy Simpson to sing their demanding arias in a relaxed and yet accentuated manner. It is the oft-cited "air" that is inherent in the performance as well as the recording. Although derived from a digital file, the tape edition is attractively done. It brings the vocal parts, carried by the very directly recorded orchestra, close to the listener. Rainer Neuwirth makes this possible by his spartan but well-thought-out miking: there are only two main microphones for the instruments and two support microphones for the soloists.  

As a listener, I feel very much at home because this tape production succeeds in taking me along on the orchestral journeys, even though the pieces are often very short. For my taste, "Sommernachtsträume" doesn't come close to the "Opera Gala" 100% because it doesn't quite have the momentum and leans more into the carried. The advantage is that a sequel is now on the market and the two works mentioned can be heard in context with their remarkable music and a total playing time of 65 minutes. Those who already have one work should have the other in their collection as well. The "Sommernachtsträume" are also excellent as an introduction to the world of opera music.

 Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)