Elvis Costello has written orchestral score for 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
NME, 2000-11-03
- Damon Coward [damon@coward.dk]

 

Elvis - A '...Dream' role for him

DO THE BARD, MAN!

ELVIS COSTELLO has written the orchestral score for an Italian ballet interpretation of WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S 'A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM', NME.COM can reveal.

Elvis was in Bologna last week to finish the orchestra rehearsals and promote the play, which was performed by the city's Aterballetto dance troupe.

At the press conference to launch the project Costello said: "There are no songs. I wanted the music to stand up by itself and obtain a different emotion. It has been written to accompany dance. It was not my job to interpret the words of Shakespeare".

When asked if the music score will be released, Costello answered :"We don't know that. It seems like a crazy, rather arrogant attitude to take, but I know for certain that it will be so good, that I would want to commit it straight to record. Maybe not in its entirety because obviously some of the themes are reused to underline the reappearance of certain characters, but if you took the very best of the themes and recorded them as suites, that could be it."

Costello also explained that he had just finished producing the new album by Swedish singer Ann Sofie von Otter.

"We have just made a beautiful record with her in Stockholm and I think it will be a such a pleasant surprice to so many people," he said. "People don't expect people from a classical background of singing to be able to sing songs that come from popular music without it being very ackward, but she has a natural gift as a singer and we chose the songs very carefully."

The next performance of the ballet will take place in Bari, Italy on November 23.