This is the studio recording of composer Geoffrey Gordon's orchestral work, PUCK - fleeing from the dawn, from the new Orchid Classics CD, Mythologies and Mad Songs - featuring the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor Martyn Brabbins. This work is inspired by the painting of the same name by Scottish artist, David Scott (1837). The recording was made in Glasgow, 3-4 October 2022, with producer Alex Van Ingen.
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In the last scene of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the magical fairy Puck comes into the palace of Theseus after all the mortals have retired for the night.
He says,
And we fairies, that do run
By the triple Hecate's team,
From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic.
Oberon, Titania and their band of fairies then enter, "Hand in hand, with fairy grace" to "sing, and bless this place." Their work, Oberon says, must be finished by break of day. Scott's work depicts a scene that does not occur until the play is over and all the supernatural creatures have left the palace. It is this imagined scene which inspires the music for this tone poem.
