Britten: Midsummer Night’s Dream

Midsummer Night’s Dream, By Benjamin Britten ★★
I am growing weary of reviewing trashy operas published by elitist opera houses of Europe. This opera, produced by the Barcelona Opera in Aix-en-Provence, stunk of Euro-trash. The scenes were minimalistic of a bed motif. Many of the performers/singers were also flagrantly gay, not fitting to the storyline of this opera, but fit only for the composer himself, who was a homosexual. Boy-children in the opera was perhaps a reflection of Britten’s infatuation, like Tchaikovsky?  The orchestral scores were quite nice, though usually drowned out by highly non-creative singing, a mixture of song and Sprechstimme. A child missing a few pertinent chromosomes and of lower mental strength could have written an equally compelling piece of music. This is not an opera to cherish or delight in. Britten follows the Shakespeare storyline okay, but the opera looses the charm of the old Bard.