A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT DREAM - Glyndebourne Festival Opera DVD

Glyndebourne's production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream is pure magic. Brilliantly adapted from Shakespeare's play, the opera follows the adventures of the four lovers and a group of naive rustics who, in a wood on a moonstruck night, fall foul of Oberon and Tytania, the quarreling King and Queen of Fairies.

In Peter Hall's remarkable staging, that very wood comes alive as logs and trees move and rustle, creating ambiguous silhouettes in the dark mysterious woodland, lit only by John Bury's wonderful rising sun and moon. Counter-tenor James Bowman plays Oberon, Ileana Cotrubas proves a majestic Titania while baritone Curt Appelgren gives a vivid performance as Bottom. The magic web of Britten's music is brilliantly spun by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Bernard Haitink.

DVD. 156 minutes. Color.