2348. “Hermia and Lysander” by Elvis Costello
Again, Lala.
In this section, Hermia and Lysander plan to elope into the woods. Costello describes the minute to minute action here, so I won’t repeat that here.
There’s a great Phillip Glass like moment that starts about at about 1′45, featuring a repeated string line (at least I think its strings) as the rhythm section. The lovers theme is also repeated in this sequence.
I’ve seen a number of productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and I feel like one of the two main issue with the lousy productions is that they fail to make the lovers interesting characters. Sure, the workers (mechanicals) who put on the play are great fun and the fairies can be cool (assuming that the fairies are cool if they just wear nice costumes and brood is the other main issue I have with lousy productions of this play), but the lovers are the heart of the show. If they’re dull, the show fails.
Ultimately, in a ballet, its the job of the choreographer to keep things interesting - though the composer is obviously important as well in this regard. So far, merely in terms of music, I find the lovers servicable but not compelling.
However, the really interesting lover isn’t Hermia or Lysander - its the jealous Helena. The next song is hers.